Revenge of the Darkness
by inkywings
Summary: Being rewritten. Sora is swept away from his home island after his adventures in Kingdom Hearts, and is forced to face things he never knew existed. His heart is tested beyond it's limits as he slowly plunges into darkness.
1. Nightmares and Battles

A:N/ Yes, yes, I know.... This story is probably just the same as a million others on fanfiction, but give me a break! I ran out of other good ideas! So I'm writing a story about a game I havn't even beaten yet. Got a problem with that?

Sora: Yeah

Me: Shut up. Or I'll kill you in the story later on.

Sora: Gasp! (runs in corner and cowers in fear.)

Me: Mwa ha ha! I am pure evil.

Riku: Cool. I like her.

Me: Alright, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. So don't send any damn lawyers at me! If you didn't want us extending on the storyline, then you shouldnt've put the category on fan fiction!

Takes place on Destiny Islands. Sora, Riku, and Kairi are all back! Yay! Now read.... gasp.... READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sora lie on the hot sand by the shore line, just staring up at the sky. He could hear Wakku inviting people to play blitzball over by the deck; the wind rustling the leaves of the paopou trees... Kairi was looking for some fruits for their lunch; and Riku was still sitting on the tree on that cliff. It was sort of Riku's and Sora's thinking spot, and they went their often.

Sora was thinking about Goofy and Donald, and what they were doing right now. It had been over a year since he last saw them, and he missed them both greatly. He even missed the way that Donald and him got into a fight over every single thing, wether it was who flew the gummi ship or what to eat for lunch. He missed Goofy's annoying chuckle. He just wanted to see them again.

Meanwhile, Riku just glared moodily at the ocean, still mad at himself. He had betrayed his friends so often, had given them so much hurt. He blamed himself for everything. If it wern't for him, Sora wouldn't have nightmares of his encounters with the darkest of evil, and Kairi wouldn't get that small look of fear in her eyes when he spoke to her. _It's all your fault they're like this_ he scolded himself._ It's all your fault they have these nightmares._ Speaking of nightmares, something caught his eyes; Sora was rolling on the ground, as if in pain; _Oh no,_ Riku thought as he jumped off of the side of the small cliff. _Here we go again._

Sora closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the gentle breeze that smelled of salt. It was a big mistake. Soon, he had drifted into sleep, and was visited by unwanted dreams.

_Sora looked around him, but saw nothing; it was completely dark. But still, he couldn't help shake the feeling that he was not alone in this dark abyss. _

_"Sora!" Someone cried. Sora twirled around to see Kairi standing there, reaching her hand out to him. He tried to run to her, but she just kept on getting more and more distant. Finally Riku appeared right behind her, sword in hand. Sora tried to call out to her, but no sound came from his lips. Kairi was totally unaware of the teen standing right behind her._

_Riku smirked a cold smile._

_"Sora!"_

_He raised his blade to her heart..._

_"Sora!"_

_... and struck._

_"Sora!"_

_Kairi fell in a bloody heap. Sora ran to help her, but it was too late._

_"Sora, wake up!"_

_She was gone. Riku dissapeared and reappeared behind Sora, blade ready._

_"Sora, you've gotta wake up!"_

_Riku raised his blade to Sora's heart._

_"Someone, help him!"_

_Sora didn't even try to block it. Kairi and Riku were long gone. Riku brought his blade down and..._

_"SORA!"_

Sora woke up gasping, the impact of a hit upside his head bringing him back. He was gasping for air, tear stains on his cheeks. He looked around and saw Riku, Kairi, Leon, and Yuffi all standing around him, all with extremely worried looks on their faces.

"I'm fine," he assured them. He tried to stand, but his legs were trembling so badlly that he just fell back down again.

"What were you dreaming about this time, kid?" Leon asked. Him and Yuffie had moved to Destiny Islands after the Hollow Bastion incedent.Sora, Riku, and Kairi had fallen into uncontrolable fits of laughter when they found out the two were living together, and only stopped when Leon picked Sora up by the collar of his shirt and thrown him into Riku, making the two land some five feet away. This had shut the three of them up.

Sora just stared livadly at Riku as if he just realized he lived on this island. Riku looked into the younger boys eyes to see pain, sorrow, and hurt. No one else needed to ask what he dreamed about; they all saw it in the way Sora looked at Riku.

Leon offered Sora a hand up, which Sora took gratefully; he was finding hard to stand on his own. "You'lll be fine kid," Leon said in his idea of a gentle voice while Sora angrily brushed the tear stains off of his cheeks. "Just go and rest."

"I already tried resting," Sora pointed out. "And look where that got me! Nightmares and a large bump on my head." Everyone laughed at the boys poor attempt on being funny. "By the way, who hit me to wake me up?"

"Squall," Yuffie said, nodding torwards her boyfriend.

"Don't call me that!" Leon snarled. But he wasn't really angry with her. Yuffie used this to her advantage.

"C'mon, we need to get to Traverse Town for some potions," she said, pulling on his arm. Sora opened his mouth to say what he always said when they went to Traverse Town, but Yuffie cut him off. "I know, I know," she said rolling her eyes. "Keep an eye out for Goofy and Donald. But I keep on telling you, they have their own stock of supplies in the castle... they never need to go to Traverse Town."

"They did before!" Sora argued.

"That was when they were looking for you," Leon told him. Sora just rolled his eyes and loooked at his other two friends. Well, at least one of them.

"Hey, where did Riku go?" he asked.

"Who cares?" Leon asked. He hadn't quite forgivin Riku yet, even though he was being controlled. He would always say _"It was his fault that he opened his heart to the darkness in the first place."_

"I care!" Sora snapped. And with that, he trudged off.

Kairi let a small sigh escape. "Here we go again."

Sora was still stalking the sandy beaches of Destiny Island some time later, looking for Riku. He found him sitting on his paopou tree on the cliff.

''What do you want?" growled Riku when Sora stopped right behind him. He didn't even have to look behind him to know who it was.

"I want to know what your deal is!" Sora said, snapping right back at him.

Riku finally stood up and walked over to the younger boy, standing closely to him. Their height difference really showed now.

"What do you care?" Riku asked. "I see the scared look in Kairi's eyes when she looks at me. I know those dreams you have are about me betraying you, and about all of the pain you suffered at my hands. Yuffie just plain pretends I don't exist and Leon still acts like I'm going to attack someone any day now! And do you know what the worst part is? I would feel the same damn way. They have every reason to be scared and angry at me, and you, the one person who should hate me most of all, is actually trying to forgive me. I can still remember all of those times I hurt you Sora, and I can't forget.

"Riku," Sora began, starting to get ticked off. "It wasn't your fault. You were being controlled and...''

"It was my fault the darkness overtook me in the first place!" he yelled. "If I hadn't been so stupid, none of this would have ever happened."

"Oh give me a break Riku! Stop wallowing in your own self pity and get over yourself!" Sora barked. Riku just tuned away and headed torwards the tree again. "Hey, don't you turn away from me when I'm talking to you!''

"Just go away Sora."

"NO!" Sora yelled, and he grabbed the older boys shoulder, trying to pull him back. He expected Riku to resist him, but what he did not expect was the gloved hand flying at his face. It hit him square on the cheek, and in his surprise, Sora fell over.

''I'm sorry," Riku whispered, turning away and walking down the bridge. "It was for your own good.''

"Yeah, well this is for your own good!" And with that. Sora hit him right back, sending him sailing off of the bridge and into the water.

Sora leapt off of the bridge and landed on the beach, looking for his fallen friend. He was nowhere in sight._ He should have come up my now. _Sora thought_. He couldn't be...nah._

All of a sudden, Riku burst out of the water and tackled Sora into the wall. Sora gaspen as his head hit stone, and started seeing little dots in front of his eyes. He was knocked out of his sences by a strong blow to his cheek, and was once again knocked to the ground.

Sora looked up, rubbing his sore cheek. There stood Riku, looking as mad as hell, dragon blade in hand. Soru leapt up, summoning the keyblade in his hand. He slashed at Riku's chest, creating a long gash. Riku groaned at the pain, then sent a counterattack at Sora, but he blocked it.

Riku leapt away and summoned energy from the end of his blade, and sent it slamming into Sora. He was sent flying off of his feet and flew some fifteen feet away.

Sora got to his feet, trembling, then charged at Riku.

Kairi was taking care of her little step-sister when she heard cries from outside. "I'll be right back," she told her. Kairi bolted outside and what she saw broke her heart; Sora and Riku were going all out on each other, blades slicing through flesh and and magic flying through the air.

" SORA, RIKU!" Kairi shouted. "PLEASE STOP!" But they either didn't hear her, or they just weren't paying attention. Kairi darted back into the house and grabbed the phone. Quickly, she dialed Yuffie's cell phone number. It rang and rang and rang. "Oh please, pick up," Kairi whispered, tears pouring from her eyes.

Finally, someone answered. "Hello?"

"Yuffie?! It's Kairi! I..."

"Oh, Kairi! Wait until you see who's here! Sora will be thrilled!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"If you can ever see Sora again!" Kairi cried. "Him and Riku are fighting!"

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Those two are always bickering about something!"

"No, it's not a verbal fight or even a game-fight!" Kairi cred. "It's a real fight! They're tearing each other apart! One of them is going to end up being seriously injured, or dying!" She broke into more sobs.

" THEY'RE WHAT?" Yuffie screamed. "Hold on, Kairi, we'll be right there!" And she hung up.

=In Traverse Town=

"Sora will be real surprised to see you three," Leon said to Goofy, Donal, and King Mickey in the restaurant by the main square in Traverse Town. "He may not admit it about Donald, but he misses you all."

Donald began, "Hey, what is that suppo..." But he never got to finish his sentance because Yuffie came bursting through the door.

"Sora and Riku are fighting!" Yuffie declared, tears starting to well up in her own eyes.

Leon just raised his eyebrows. "Yuffie, they are always fighting."

"Not a playish fight, a real fight!" she explained. "They're tearing each other apart, Leon! I just got off of the phone with Kairi."

Leon, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Aerieth jumped out of their seats. "We can take the gummi ship, it'll warp us there," the King ordered.

Riku used another speed attack on Sora, but Sora just dodged it and held out the keyplade, point facing Riku, so Riku ran head first into the sharp pointy end. Riku cried out in pain as blood gushed from his newest room, and Sora took this moment of hesitation as an oppurtunity. He aimed a kick at his stomach. This time, it was Riku who was sent flying into a wall.

Riku quickly recovered, and sent bolts of lightening at Sora, who could not dodge then. He screamed in pain as the volts surged through his body. He took his revenge by throwing fire at Riku.

While the two went on battleing, Kairi kept on shouting at the, trying to get them to stop. But they couldn't hear her. They also couldn't hear the sound of the gummi ship landing on the beach. Nor could they see Yuffie, Leon, Donald and Goofy come up behind them and grab them.

"Ugh!" they both cried in surprise. Leon picked Sora up by the back of his shirt, lifting him two feet in the air, while Goofy wrestled the keyblade from his grip. Yuffie gripped Riku's hands behind his back while Donald took the dragonblade. They both tried to free themselves from their captors grips; Yuffie just tightened her grip while Sora got hit on the head by Leon, using the keyblade.

"Wow, you two really did a number on each other," Leon growled, while shaking Sora, cutting off even more air then before. "Lets get these two inside." Yuffie, Donald and Goofy led Riku inside, while Leon and the king took Sora; he was still trying to get out of Leon's grip, he was choking him! Leon just hit him again and took him inside.

Leon slammed Sora into a chair, and kept his hands on his shoulders so he wouldn't get away, while Yuffie did the same to Riku.

"You two had better explain yourselves," Kairi snapped. "You scared me half to death!"

"Why were you two ripping each other apart?" Yuffie asked. "Did it have something to do with this morning?

"Sort of."

"Maybe."

"I dunno."

"Is this some sort of grudge match?"

"Sort of."

"Maybe."

"I dunno."

"Are you to sorry about it?"

"Sort of."

"Maybe."

"I dunno."

Leon, getting tired of these dumb answers, took out his own sword and hit both of them extremely hard on the head with it.

"OUCH!"

"OUCH!"

"Why were you two fighting?' Leon roared. The two boys just glared at each other from across the table. Leon grabbed a fistfull of Sora's hair and pulled up, making him wince in pain. He forced him to look up at him. "Tell me why you were fighting before I rip your hair from your skull.'' He tightened his grip on the teens hair to show him he meant it, making Sora wince again.

Sora finally sighed in defeat. "Riku is being a sapskull and wallowing in their own self pity," he snapped.

"You're butting into my buisness, so just bug off!" he yelled. They tried getting out of thei chairs to attack each other again, but Yuffie and Leon held them back.

"When did this start?" Goofy asked. Sora started; he hadn't realized who was here.

"Goofy, Donald!" Sora exclaimed. "I didn't know you were here! How are you?"

"Pretty good, you?"

"Not so good at the moment."

"This isn't happy-reunion time people," Leon snapped.

"Happy, no, reunion, yes,'' Sora replied. This earned him another shake of his hair.

"So, what happened?" Mickey asked after removing Leon's hand from Sora's hair.

"I was just trying to talk to Riku, and he hit me!"

"You did it first!" Riku said.

"No, you did! I was just holding you back from walking away like a big baby!"

"You knocked me into the fucking ocean!"

"After you hit me first!" Sora told him.

"Alright, alright," Kairi said, tired of the bickering.

King mickey said "So Sora tried to talk to Riku, but Riku tried to walk away. Sora held him back, and was punched by Riku. The Sora hit Riku back, and Riku landed in the ocean. What next?''

"I went down to look for Riku, and he jumped out and tackled me into the wall, and then punched me again," Sora explained

"Hey, you threw me in the water!"

''It's not my fault you can't land on the bridge. And I didn't dileberately throw you, I hit you. And water is a much better landing then a solid rock wall!"

"You threw me into a rock wall too!"

"After you used all of those speed attacks!"

"Then you landed your keyblade in my skull!'

"I'm surprised anything can get through that thick skull of yours!"

"ENOUGH!" Leon roared. "We get the picture! Aerieth, can you just heal them now? And make sure it's painful."

Aerieth sighed, and walked up to Sora. "What is your most serious injury?" Sora silently pointed to a stab wound on his left side. "Take off your shirt and let me take a look." Sora obeyed, and she examined a five inch lonch stab wound. She layed a hand on the cut, and her hand turned icy and blue.

"OUCH!" Sora yelped. "The healing hurts worse then the actual wound!"

Leon just smirked. "Maybe now you'll think twice before you get into another fight."

Sora had to sit through the pain as she fixed the gash, two more smaller gashes on his chest and leg, two broken ribs,a broken wrist, more scrapes and bruises then you can count, and a large bump on his head from where he hit the wall and smaller ones made by Leon.

But when she got to Riku, she discovered his injurys were just as bad. When she was done, she stood back to examine them both.

"Beutiful," she said. "Just let those healing be a lesson for you if you ever get the urge to start beating each other up.''

"Now you two shake hands," Mickey ordered. Riku and Sora stared at the mouse king. "Put it behind you already and stop being so stubborn. Or maybe Leon can give you some new injurys, and those won't be healed."

Riku and Sora just glared at each other; they didn't know which was worse, getting ordered around by a mouse, more injurys, or shaking hands with each other. Mickey cleared his throat, and the two clasped each others hands and let go immediately.

"That will have to do for now," the king said. ''Now please leave, I need to speak with Leon, Yuffie and Aerieth alone.''

Donald, Sora, and Goofy were walking along the beaches some time later, just talking. They had a lot of catching up to do.

"Are you three planning on going to bed anytime soon?" a giggly voice from behind them asked. The trio turned around to see Kairi standing there, smiling.

Sora raised his eyebrows. "You're talking to me?"

Kairi giggled. "Of course, silly. It'll give me nightmares, but I'll be fine." She turned to Goofy and Donald. "King Mickey says that you two are staying at the motel down by the ship."

Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Sora were just leaving when Sora noticed a lone figure saluted in the moonlight on the cliff; Riku.

"You three go on, I'll catch up to you later." And he started walking torwards the shack that led up to it.

Donald saw where he was going, and grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Oh no you don't! You're going to get into another fight, and I'm not letting you."

"Donald, let go!" But when the duck wouldn't move. He tried to get out, but nothing worked on the stubborn duck. Sora just sighed. "You have my word as a friend that I won't start a fight."

"Yeah, but do I have his word?" Donald asked, nodding in Riku's direction.

"Just trust him... I do," Sora said, finishing lamely.

"You still trust him?!?" Donald yelled. "After all thats happened?"

"Yes," Sora said, the energy going out of him. "He still has a good heart. Now let me go, I need to go talk to him."

Goofy and Donald exchanged glances. Goofy nodded, and Donald let go, but very reluctantly.

Sora turned on his heels, and jogged up to the shack. He opened the door and climbed up the steps.

The night breeze gently blew Riku's white hair, filling his nostrils with the sent of seasaly. He could hear the cries of the seagulls as they flew to the dock to setle in for the night. He heard footsteps from behind him, and once again he didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.

"Hey Riku" Sora said quietly.

"Hey,"

"Can I sit down?"

"If you mean can you sit down without me hitting you, then yes."

Sora ignored the bitterness in Riku's voice and sat next to him on the tree. They sat there in silence for a little, just watching the waves creep higher and higer above the shoreline. Finally, Riku said something. "Do you remember when we first met?"

"Yeah," Sora said. "you had just moved here from the other island, and oyou challenged me to a fight to see who was better."

"And we both got knocked out anyways when we ran into eachother." Sora laughed a little.

"How did we end up friends?" Sora asked.

"We just kept on challenging each other. But we always made up in the end." Riku replied, thinking fondly of the memory.

Sora laughed. "I think the biggest fight besides today was over Kairi," he said. "We didn't talk to each other for months, until we finally decided we could just use our fight matches to see who can get most of her attention." Riku laughed. Then there was more silence.

''Sora, I'm sorry,'' Riku said. Sora stared at him. Riku was apologizing first? That was even more surprising then when Riku hit him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too,'' Sora admitted. "We still friends?"

Riku grinned at the young keyblade master. "Yup,"

They looked out at the ocean for a little bit more, talking. Until Sora said, "Damn, look at the time! Mom's gonna kill me, I'm an hour late!"

Riku laughed. "You idiot," he said.

Sora smiked. "You're not on time either, you know."

"Race you to the motel?''

"You're on!" They leapt down from the cliff, going at top speed down the sand dunes.

"I thought they would never leave," Yuffie said, stepping out from under the cliff along with Leon, Donald, Goofy, Aerieth, Kairi, and King Micky.

"Well, at least their back together again," Goofy said.

Me: The end! Do you like it? Do you do you do you?

Riku: Have you been drinking Mountain Dew Live Wire again?

Me: Sort of, maybe, I dunno.

Sora: You made it too sappy.

Me: Oh shut up Sora!

Sora: Make me.

Me: gets trusty flamethrower Say that again...

Sora: Ep! runs away

Riku: You made him leave... COOL!

Me: Stop making fun of Sora-kun.

Read and Review!


	2. Night Time Sneak

Me:Chapter two! Chapter two! YYYAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Riku:Oh joy, she's returned.

Me:Shut up Riku. I'd answer reviews, but I have none yet.

Riku: Ah ha.

Sora: Shut up Riku. You couldn't write any better.

Riku: She stilll sucks at writing. It took her four fucking hours to type the last chapter!

Me: Gotta problem with that?

Riku: No, not really.

Kairi: What is the point of this conversation anyways?

Me: I dunno. Anyway, lots of angst in this chapter!

Sora: Do you even know what the word angst means?

Me: No, do you?

Sora: Not really.

Kairi: Ditto.

Riku: Idiots.

Me: Do you know what it means?

Riku: No.

Me: Thats it, I'm getting the flamethrower!

Riku:EEP!

Me: Read and review!

=In Some Dark Place Thingy=

"My god, I hate that kid!" someone snarled from a seat on a dark round table.

"Don't we all?" someone drawled.

"All of you, shut up!"

They were staring intensley at a boy in a globe ( quess who?), watching him laugh as he pushed an overlarge duck down a sandy hill.

"When do we get him, I'm tired of waiting!"

"Patience, Mr. Oogie Boogie. Patience."

"Patience my ass! I want torture now!"

"You will all get your turn to torture the little brat soon enough, but not now. Now, we wait.''

"I hate waiting. It gives me wrinkles."

"Go play with your little fish or something, Ursala. And don't worry about wrinkles, you couldn't possibly get any uglier."

A sound of laughter filled the cave, but stopped when Ursala wrapped a slimy tentacle around Hook's throat, choking him.

''Enough!" Malifecent snapped.'' The villains fell silent. "If we do not wait, then we will not win. We need to get him alone, and away from his precious keyblade. If he takes it with him, then we have no chance.

"We need a plan to get him away from the keyblade and his friends. With no one or nothing to protect him, he will be an easy picking. But that is only the first part. The second is we need to get him on our side and..."

"WHAT?!?" the villains screamed in unsion.

"What do you mean get him on our side?" Hook snapped.

"It's an outrage!''

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, we were plannning on taking control of all worlds," Malifecent growled. "With the boy on our side, we will have enough power to do so."

"We can do it without him!" Oogie Boogie protested.

"No, we cannot," she replied in a deadly calm voice. Her voice started rising with every word. "If we try, he will stop us again. At least with him on our side, we will have a one-hundred percent chance of winning!" she snapped.

There was a long pause. Finally, someone spoke up. "That could work..." Jafar began.

"But there is a small problem," Malifecent began. "He has too strong of a heart; I cannot control him.''

"You mean you actually expect him to come with us willingly..." Ursala began. "It's official, hun, you have gone insane."

"The little brat would never become one of us by choice."

"I bet a million munny on it.."

"What do you not gamble on, Oogie Boogie?"

"Shut up, all of you!" Jafar roared.

"What we need to do is break him," Malifecent continued as if there had been no interuption. "Make him feel pain, make him wish he were dead. Then he will join us. But first, we need to find out how to get him. I suggest that we...."

=Destiny Islands=

''Come on Donald, you slow little duck!" Sora called over his shoulder.

"I'm coming, and I'm not little!" Donald said back. "I'm much older then you are!"

"Being old is nothing to brag about."

"Shut up Sora."

"Make me."

"Okay, I will!" And with that, the duck gave chase to the fifteen-year-old. Sora was much faster then Donald, so it wasn't much of a challenge.

Riku and Kairi were watching the antics from a rickity fence. Mickey and Aerieth were talking on a bench nearby. Leon and Yuffie just happened to want to take a walk at the same time, allthough everyone knew it was a date.Riku and Kairi laughed when Donald finally cought up to Sora, but Sora just pushed the arrogant duck down a sandy dune and into the water. Goofy went to see if Donald was alright, chuckling all the way. Sora came up to join Riku and Kairi on the fence.

"Are you two having some quality time over here?" Sora teased, enjoying the moment where Riku started to blush.

"Shut up," Riku said, pushing Sora off the fence.

"Ahh!" PLUNK. "Ouch!"

Kairi giggled. Sora took her arn and pulled her down with him. PLUNK. She landed on the ground with him.

"Hey, no hurting girls!" Riku said with mock anger on his face. But then he smirked his 'I know something you don't know' look. Confused, Sora turned around to see what Riku was smirking about, and his face fell; there stood a very wet, and very angry looking Donald. Sora guped nervously, and ran.

The chase went on and on, Riku and Kair laughing the whole time at the frightened Sora. "Is Sora chasing Donald again?" Leon asked. Him and Yuffie had just gotten back from their 'walk'.

"No, it's actually the other way around today," Riku said in a bored tone, watching as Donal dinally managed to tackle Sora to the ground, then roll him over the beach and into the water. Goofy was rolling on the ground laughing until Sora took hold of both Donald and Goofy and pulled them into the water.

Thunder rumbled from up above, and the days threatened rain began. Sora, Goofy and Donald jumped out of the ocean and headed for shelter; being soaking wet made them nice targets for lightning.

=In A Warm And Comfy Hotel=

"Uck" SOra said, looking down at his dripping body once they were safely inside of the hotel lobby. "I'm soaked! I need to go and change, unless someone knows a spell that can make me dry again."

Leon spoke up, "I can cast a fire spell on you, that'll make you dry."

Sora gulped. "Err, no thanks, I think I'll just change."

Sora opened the door and walked outside into the pouring rain, wind whipping it into his eyes and face, making it hard to see. He walked to the left for a little, finally coming to the bridge that led to his section of homes. The wood creaked, and the bridge swayed dangerously. Sora just glided over and walked inside. _Even if I do get some clean clothes on, I'll still get soaked on the way to the motel,_ Sora thought moodily, walking up to the stairs to his room.

He lloked around and smiled; exactly as he left it. A single, un-made bed was in the far corner with fresh laundryon top. He looked through it, trying to get some clothes together. Blue prints for the raft lay all over his desks along with maps of Destiny Islands and the oceans surrounding it. Papers from the homeschooling lessons his father gave him every once and a while and an assortment of gadgets. Several models he and Riku built were scattered in various places in his room. There was also a tool box filled with all of the equipment they used for the raft; different shears, sanders, nails, and such. His messy clothes lie in heaps around the room, even though there was a hamper just outside the door.

Once Sora had finished changing, he trampled down the stairs and headed torwards the door, but his mother came and stood right in front of it, hands on her hips. "You are not going out in this storm," she snapped.

"Oh mom," Sora said, rolling his eyes.

''Don't you 'oh mom' me young man!" she continued. "I remember what happened the last time you went out into one of these storms, you didn't come back for a month. No, if this world is split up again I'm going to make sure that you, your father and I are at least together. Now..."

THUMP THUMP THUMP. Someone was knocking on the door. Well, it was more like pounding. Sora tried his best to hide a smile; he knew who was behind that door.

"Who would be visiting at this time of night?" his mother asked to no one in particular. She opened the door to reveal a very wet Leon who looked like he had just taken a swim in the bay. "Hello?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"Leon," he answered curtly. Leon turned to Sora. "What's taking you so long, kid? Mouse-boy needs to tell us all something."

Sora's mom glared at Leon and his rudeness, but Leon took no notice of it. Sora mouthed 'She won't let me go!' Leon looked like he was about to laugh, but Sora silenced him with a look that would have peeled paint off a wall. All of a sudden, a girl who looked like she was as old as Leon came running up. She wore a sleeveless belly shirt and extremely short shorts along with a headband and fingerless gloves; Yuffie was here.

"What's taking so long Squall?" she asked.

"It's Leon," he snapped.

Yuffie turned to Sora. "Why aren't you there yet? You said you were getting changed, not getting a whole new wardrobe!" She giggled. Leon whispered something into Yuffie's ear. Sora guessed he was telling her why he wasn't there, because she started to laugh. Sora started banging his head against the wall, his face beat red; this was so embarrassing.

Sora's mom asked "What exactly do you want?"

"Oh, don't worry Mrs. Sora's mom," Yuffie began. Leon banged his fist against his head, Yuffie acted like such a little kid sometimes. "We're just here to kidnap Sora!"

"Idiot!" Sora hissed as his mother gaped at her in shock.

Leon put a hand over Yuffie's mouth. "She's just joking," Leon assured her. But she didn't look at all convinced. Yuffie didn't bother trying to move out of Leon's hold, and looked like she was quite enjoying it, and the same with Leon.

"Well, I'm sorry, but he can't come with you right now. Dinner's almost ready." she told the newcomers.

"It is not!" Sora protested. "You didn't even start it yet!"

"You're not going out in this storm!" she snapped, even though Sora, Leon, and Yuffie knew it was partly because she still beleived the two young adults would kidnap her son. "Now go to your room!" she snapped again. She closed the door, but not before Sora mouthed to Yuffie and Leon 'I'll sneak out.'

=In Sora's Room=

Sora was pacing the room, looking for anything that might help him to escape.He could always glide out, but with all of this wing he would most likely end up falling into the ocean. He couldn't walk right out the door, or his mom would see him.

He finally found what he was looking for; a long peice of rope. He tied thick nots every haly a foot to make it easie to climb, secured it to a thick latch on the window sill, and threw the rest of the rope outside. He pulled on it to make sure it was secure, and clambered on. He was halfway down when he noticed, with terror, that is Father was sitting on the proch, just watching the storm. Sora srambled back up the rope.

_Damn it, _he thought. _Why does Dad have to love watching storms?_ Sora sighed, and pulled up the rope. _Now what?_ he thought. He looked across all of the houses that lead to the bridge. _So neat and orderly, just for over-protective parents like mine. Houses so close together so they can talk to each other about new ways to torture their kids. Yeah, those houses are really close together, close enough to... jump across... _Then an idea hit him so fast he almost fell down from the impact.

He climbed out of his window onto the roof and looked across. It was a five foot jump, and he could use glide if he needed a little help. He just hoped the wind didn't blow him off. And all of that water will make it slippery... cool. He stood back as far as possible, and, with a running start, jumped across to the next house. But the wood was slippery with moss that grew there from all of the rain, and he almost fell off. He took off to the next house, and the next.

He finally reached the last house, and realized a problem. The gap was twice as long, and if he hopped down and tried to walk from here on the ground, his father would see him for sure. He would have to glide. Sora took a deep breath and jumped across, using his gliding abilities. He was almost there.... another foot, and...

A strong gust of wind came flyning at him, moving him to the left. Sora managed to grasp the end of the wooden roof, but it was too slippery... he went down.

PLUNK. "Ouch," Sora groaned, getting to his feet. He went to the edge of the house and peeked around. He was watching the water some ways out in front of Sora... he'd be having a hard time getting to the stairs that led to the bridge. Lightning struck the sky every minute, illuminating the ground and his father would surely see him. He'd have to time this.

He waited until the next thunderbolt ended and ran towards the stairs. _Almost there, please don't see me..._ Sora was on the covered stairway by the time the next bolt came through the sky.

"I made it," Sora said, sighing with relief. But his troubles were not over. When Sora got to the bridge, he realized the storm had done a lot more damage then anticipated; it had half the boards missing, and was swaying violently in the wind. Sora took a deep breath, and stepped onto the plank. It was the only way across, and he might fall into the tumbling waves below. He felt the bridge sag under his weight, and the next gust of wind nearly blew him off when it made the bridge go on its side. Sora hung on for dear life. He continued slowly across the bridge. He was about three-quarters of the way across when the rope snapped, sending, half of the bridge into the water and leaving the second half dangling dangerously from one weak peice of rope.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Sora roared, hanging onto the second half of the bridge. He stuggled to climb it. The rope that was currently keeping Sora from dying was wearing down, and if didn't climb fast enough, he'd fall. He grasped slippery board by slippery board, trying his best not to let go. The rope was snapping, it'd let go soon. Three boards, two boards, just one left...

Sora grasped the edge of the ledge just in time, because the rest of the bridge finally gave in and fell in. Sora pulled himself up, gasping. _Too much adventure for one day,_ Sora thought as he trudged up to the motel.

=Motel That Is Actually Dry=

Sora looked around; it was empty except for the bartender and the group of his friends including Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, Leon, Yuffie, Aerieth, and King Mickey.

"Where have you been?" Donald snapped when Sora came up to them. "What took you so long?"

"WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG?" Sora roared. " I have been climbing ropes, jumping rooftops, falling off of them, going across a bridge that broke halfway down, and dangling down from it trying to climb up here, having it fall away from under my feet, and all in the pouring rain and wind! So sorry if I am a bit late!" Sora turned to the King. "This had better be imporatnt or I'm killing you all.

"It is, it is," Mickey assured him, motioning for him to sit down. Sora sat down gratefully, happy to be on solid ground.

"Uhhh, Sora?"

"Yeah Goofy?"

"You went home to get out of wet clothes, didn' cha?"

"Mmm hmmm."

"Well, umm, I'm not sure if yu've noticed, but uhh, you're still wet."

Sora looked down at his clothes and saw that Goofy was right. Sora just banged his head onto the table and kept it there.

"Our poor, poor little washed up friend," Riku said, patting Sora on the back.

"Shut up, Riku," Sora said with a muffled voice.

"Uhh, Sora?" Kairi asked. "Did you leave a note for your parents?"

"No, do I ever?" Sora asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, Leon said that Yuffie was joking about her kidnapping you, and your mother beleived her, right?" Kairi said with a look of dread on her face.

"Yeah so..." But then he figured it out. "Damn it!" Sora said angrily.

"Nice going, Sora!" Riku snapped. "Now when your mom finds out that your missing, she'll call Kairi's parents. Kairi's parents will see that Kiari is missing and call my parents. Now they'll all be looking for us! Great job, Sora."

"I blame Yuffie," Sora grumbled.

"Opps, sorry guys..." Yuffie said.

"Lets just have this meeting thingy before they come after us," Kairi said.

"Ah yes... well...''

They were distracted by the phone ringing.... barely anyone calls the hotel. "Hello?" the bartender grunted. There was a moments pause before he looked over at Sora, Riku, and Kairi. "yeah, a sixteen year old with white haired.... a girl with red hair... and a fifteen year old with brown hair... yeah, they're here..."

"Damn it, that was quick!" Riku said, slamming his fist onto the table.

"It's a new record, how fast information can spread between parents," Sora said, taking a sip of hot chocolate that Aerieth had just given to him.

"Ya wanna talk to'em?... kay..."

The bartender threw the phone over to Sora, who put it to his ear with caution. "He-hello?"

He instantly tore the phone away as the screams of three woman rang through the phone. Sora put his hand over the ear peice and turned to Riku and Kairi. "They have a four way call going, their all yelling at once!" Leon snorted with laughter.

"I can't hear you when you are all shouting at once, one at a time!" he commanded the mothers. There was a pause, and then Sora smiled wickedly. "It's for you." he said, passing it to Riku who had a terrified look on his face.

"Hello?" he said. They all started yelling at once again. "We're fine... no....no.... NO!...yes.... Don't worry about him Mrs. Sora's mom.... what do you mean that reminds you of someone....oh, her... oh my god... she was just kidding! Get a sense of humor...Look it up in the dictionary!..... we came here on our own free will... yes ..._yes..._no....yes.... no way.... not now!..... do we have to..... the bridge? It's destroyed.... I didn't know you could curse, mom!....no.... no...no... do we have to....why?.... yes, already!.... Oh come on, we're old enough....what do you mean you want to talk to them?.... no, mom.... she was just joking!....how many times do I need to say it?... no... no... no... You'll what?.... a week?.... two weeks?.... you're making it three?.... oh alright... yes.... yes.... yes.... fine.... oh goody... alright....bye." He hung up the phone miserably and threw it back to the bartender.

"Come on," he said to Sora and Kairi. "They said if we're not back in five minutes, we're grounded for three weeks."

Sora turned to King Mickey again. "Can it wait until tomorrow?"

Mickey sighed. "It really shouldn't but you'll be of no use if you're grounded. Get up here straight away tomorrow morning." And with that, the three miserable teens trudged on home.

=Useless Author Notes=

Me:Ta Da! Do you like it?

Sora: Dude, you nearly got ,me killed... twice!

Me: Yeah, well, You're going to die several more times in the future, so get used to it.

Sora: SEVERAL???!!!???

Riku: You mean he dosn;t atay dead? Damn it!

Kairi: Shut up Riku.

Me: Do you want to know what Mickey needs to tell you all?

All: Yes!

Me: Too bad!

All: (give me evil glare)

Me gulp don't make me get the flamethrower....

All: CHARGE!

Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! RRRREEEEAAAAADDDDDDDDD AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDD RRRREEEEEVVVVVIIIIIIIIEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Captured!

Me: IIIIIIIIIIII'MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM BBBAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Riku: Oh joy.

Sora: She's back.

Me: I JUST DRANK FOUR CANS OF MOUNTAIN DEW LIVE WIRE AND MY SELF CONFIDENCE HAS GONE THROUGH THE ROOF! THIS WILL BE THE BEST CHAPTER EVER! REALLY LONG! A LITTLE FLUFF! THROW IN SOME ANGST AND YOU COME UP WITH.... CHAPTER THREE!

Kairi: YAY!

Sora: Wait a second... what do you mean angst? Do I get tortured in this chapter?

Me: Eeeerrrrrrr............... read and review!

Sora: --

Destiny Islands

The sunlight shone through his tightly shut eyelids, and he finally opened them to reveal a blind-less window through which poured early morning light. Sora groaned, and attempted to pull of the heavy covers and tumbled out of bed; literally. He had gotten home pretty late last night, and after bearing through all of his mothers screaming, he wasn't very happy. His head pounded loudly as he dragged himself off of the floor and into the shower. He turned it on the hottest temperature possible and stepped in. He winced slightly at the heat, but it woke him up. After all of those fire spells he had endured the previous year, this was nothing.

All of a sudden, he was hit by a expolosion of memories... _a giant three-headed dog lunged at him with bared teeth, cutting deep into his left shoulder... Kairi's lifeless body.... Riku sending countless enemies at him... millions of black shadows infested his island... pools of darkness swallowed him and Riku.... Keyblade... Keyblade.... **But do not fear... For you hold the greatest weapon of all... And remember.... You are the one who will open the door...**_ Sora's head snapped up, breathing heavily. He had never had so many of those memories come back to him all at once. "What the hell..."

After having that nice little happy reunion with his past, Sora crept down the stairs. His mother said last night that she would be dealing out his punishment in the morning, and he didn't want to stick around to find out what it was. He gobbled down a bowl of Frosted Flakes and hurried out the door. What he saw made his eyes widen to twice their size. "Oh no..."

The island was half destroyed from the storm last night. Rooves had been blown off, random things litered the ground, the pier had been destroyed along with the rope bridge. Large pools of rain and salt water lay every few yards. Trees had had there deep roots lifted out and some lay broken. "There's going to be one heck of a clean-up today." Sora muttered to himself as he looked around for an easy route to the hotel. He chose to hop across the cliff and landed into the two-foot deep water and waded over to the beach. It wasn't very uncommon to see islanders walking through the water with shoes on. Yuffie quickly noticed this and took the first chance that came at her to tackle Leon into the water. He wasn't very happy about that, but he always held back his anger when it came to Yuffie.

When he reached the shore line he trampled up to Riku's house and hammered on the door. No one answered. He tried again, but still no answer. "And he calls me a lazy bum," Sora muttered as he walked around to the other side of the house. He looked up and saw Riku's window. An idea came to him, and an evil grin spread across his face. He climbed the boards and lept lightly through the open window. Riku lay in a tangle of blankets.

Sora knelt down by his bedside, and whispered into his ear "Riku... ohhhh Riiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkuuuuuuuu..."

"What?" Riku muttered, still asleep. "Who are you?"

Sora struggled to hold back laughter for a moment, and then continued. "It is me, Malifecent... I have come for you Riku.... join me in my quest for revenge against the keybearer..."

"No, leave Sora alone," Riku murmered, turning over in his sleep as if trying to run from the mysterious voice.

Sora snorted with laughter, and kept the rest of it back. "Then maybe your little girlfriend, Kairi, will help me." Sora had a purpose to this whole prank, and he was coming to it. Did Riku still like Kairi? He wasn't sure....

"Kairi's not my girlfriend," Riku said groggily. "She's Sora's"

"Really?" Sora asked. In his surprise he forgot to use his low, Malifecent voice and Riku jolted awake.

"SORA!" Riku yelled. But Sora didn't have a chance to look scared. He was still surprised. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"You don't like Kairi anymore?" Sora asked. Riku had a puzzled expression on his face until it hit him as to what Sora had been saying to him in his dreams.

"Oh, that..." Riku muttered. "Well, no, not really. I mean, I've had my chance and I blew it by turning evil. And I think she considers me more of a big brother and not a boyfriend. But I've seen the way you you two look at each other. If there's anyone who's getting together on this island besides Yuffie and Leon, it's you and Kiari."

Sora's face turned beat red. "Oh..." he muttered. He cast around for a change of subject. "Well, anyways, we should be at the hotel. You coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute. Go knock for Kairi," Riku said, waving a hand of dismissal. Sora hopped out of the window, glad to get away from all of the sappy stuff. Too much of it in one week.

Sora knocked on Kairi's door, and heard a voice call "Just a minute!" The door creaked open and showed Kairi with a skimpy towel wrapped around herself. Her face turned beat red, just as Sora's had. She quickly closed the door enough so that she could peak her head through without Sora seing her.

"Uhhh...ummm... ar-are y-you coming to the h-hotel?" Sora stuttered. The last time he had seen Kairi with so little colthes on was when she wore a bathing suit, and he couldn't help but stare then.

"Yes, I'll be out in a minute," she said, her face still that attractive color of red. She closed the door, and Sora sat down on the patio. He could still remember the first time he ever met Kairi... and it was one heck of a meeting, too.

Flash Back Time!

_"Hey Sora, throw it here!" Wakku yelled. It was five years ago, and Sora, Riku, and Wakku were playing blitzball in the late afternoon, the sky turning into a burnt orange with tints of pink and purple on the horizon. Sora thought it would be more interestiong to kick, so he did... with all of his might. The three boys watched as it flew into the air and landed some ways into the ocean._

_"WOO HOO!" Sora said jumping up and down. "That has to be a new record!"_

_"Oh yes, congradulations Sora!" Riku said clapping his hands, voice dripping in saracasm. "And your grand prize is... To get the blitzball out of the ocean!" Sora's face fell as he looked at the blitzball, slowly drifting out to sea._

_"Do I have to?"_

_"YES!" Riku and Wakku yelled at the same time._

_"Fine, fine!" Sora exclaimed. He walked up to the water and took his shoes off; he didn't feel like getting them wet and then having to dry them out. He waded through the water and around twenty yards in, it was waist deep. He reached out for the blitzball._

_Then, a sudden gust of wind came from somewhere behind him, blowing the ball further out to sea. But when he got close to it again, it just blew away again. "What the..." Something strange was going on around here. "Sora!" someone yelled from behind him. He turned around to see Riku waving to him. "We'll be waiting at Tidus's house." With that, they walked away. Sora sighed and turned back to the current problem._

_The water was soon up to his shoulders and he swam after it, but still it blew away._

_Then it stopped. It went from high speed and then just sat there as if some invisible force was holding it there. Oh yeah, very strange._

_That was when he saw it. Some further yards out, an old plank drifted in the water. But the plank wasn't the weird thing; it was the girl who was unconsience on it. Waves rocked her body gently up and down, thin wisps of red hair clung to her face. She was small and looked so delicate he thought she would break if he touched her. Her eyes were red and puffy and she had obviously been crying. She wore a white t-shirt that was ripped in places along with a skirt that had also seen better days. She looked so beautiful, but his vision of her was soon deleted as she slipped under the water._

_Sora gasped. He took a deep breath and plunged under. A few moments he ripped above the water, the girl cradled in his arms. There was something very strange about her, but what isn't strange about a girl appearing in the sea from out of nowhere? He bagan to walk back torwards the shore when the girls eye's fluttered open._

_"Hi!" Sora said happily, glad she wasn't dead._

_"Hi..." she said softly. "Who are you?"_

_"I'm Sora."_

_"I'm Kairi."_

_"Well Kairi, welcome to Destiny Islands." Sora said, giving her ones of his grins that could light up even the darkest of situations._

_She smiled lightly, and then drifted off to sleep, her head resting on Sora's shoulder...._

End Flash Back (Just tell me you didn't think that was cute!)

Sora smiled fondly at the memory. It brought something else to his mind, though. _"She's not my girlfriend... She's Sora's..."_ He still couldn't believe Riku was giving Sora the chance... he was going to find someone else....this was too weird. Almost as weird as when he first met Kairi... of course, he now knew what was so weird about her. She was a Princess of Heart, and she had stolen his.

"Are you ready?" Sora whipped around to see Kairi standing there, fully clothed in a black silk mini shirt and a red japenese belly shirt (you know those shirts, the ones with the buttons down the front? I have one of those shirts, it's awesome!). She had put a small bit of make up on her face and her hair flowed down her back in a simple, but pretty manner.

Sora grinned. "Yup. Just waiting for Riku."

"Don't worry, I know you two could barely stand being away from my pressence for too long, so I hurried over," a voice drawed from the corner of the house. Kairi giggled and Sora just shook his head at his best friend. Riku grinned wickedly. "I'm sorry, was I interupting a special moment?'

Their faces turned red again and Riku just shook his head. "Come on, lets get to the hotel before Mickey comes out here and starts beating us with his keyblade."

They walked in silence the rest of the way. One of them may have said a comment about the damage, but no one was really sure.

They finally arrived and pushed open the door to reveal everyone sitting around table. Everyone was sipping their coffee excet for King Mickey, Goofy, and Yuffie; they were drinking hot chocolate.

"Morning!" Yuffie said cheerfully. sora just yawned, Riku glared at Leon for no reason at all, and Kairi poured herself for no reason at all.

"Why are you glaring at me?" Leon snapped.

"Because you lack the ability to keep your girlfriends mouth shut! My mom was yelling at me like there was no tomorow!" Riku yelled.

Aerieth and Yuffie giggled. "Anyway..." Sora began, breaking up the fight before it even began. "What did you want to tell us?"

"Ah yes, that," Mickey said, the worried expression that had spread acrost his face really not suiting him. "That..." He sighed, looking Sora straight in the eyes. "Sora, you remember how I said that there would always be a door, right?" Sora nodded. It had been half a year ago that Sora had finally found the door, which happened to be the one that lie in the secret passageway on Destiny Islands. "Well, there is also a door to the darkness. And of course, if there's two doors to the light, there's two doors to the darkness." Sora turned paler then the sand that lay on the beaches.

"No..." he began, shaking his head. "The heartless can't be back, there just no way. We made sure that when we found you in that door, we destroyed every last one of those heartless! There is no way we can fight them... not again...."

"Don't worry Sora, we did destroy those heartless," King Mickey said, causing for his face to gain back some of its color. :"But there are still some heartless wondering around the worlds. And they're being called back. The maps back at the castle have been tracking their movements, and as far as we can tell, then have gathered here."

He took a scroll out of his pockets, and spread it across the table; it was completely blank. But when he pulled out his keyblade and tapped it lightly. Color spread and show an are containing ten different worlds; Antlantica, Monstro, Deep Jungle, Traverse Town, Olympus Colloseum, Holloween Town, Wonderland, Agraba, and Hollow Bastion. There were tiny black dots all throughout the worlds, scattered every here and there. But the dots were moving, and they all seemed to be flowing in one direstion... Hollow Bastion.

"Oh shit..." Riku murmered. Kairi had small tears in the corners of her eyes, trying hard not to let them fall.

Sora was just plain stunned. After a moment or two of silence he finally asked "Why are they all gathering at Hallow Bastion? Do I want to no who's calling them?"

King Mickey sighed again. "Sora, you've got to understand this. They're back. All of them. Ursela, Hook, Jafar, Oogie Boogie, Malifecent... the whole lot of them. They were reborn from the darkness in the second door. We need to get to that door and seal it shut... for good."

There was complete silence. "What do they want?" Leon grunted. Why the hell go through the trouble of getting back here? What do they want?"

"It's not what they want!" Donald smapped. "It's who they want!"

Everyone looked around at Sora who's eyes were haunted looking; he had known they would want revenge as King Mickey said that the heartless were back. "So in other words..." Sora began, letting the truth sink in slowly. "I am totally screwed." No one said a thing. Even Aerieth was quiet, when she usually would have yelled at Sora for using that language. No one knew what to say to him.

"Not entirely..." Mickey bagan. Maybe, if we cut back their sourse, then they won't be able to..."

But he was cut off by Sora's yelling. "OH COME OFF IT! THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN STOP THEM. I CAN'T GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO HELP WITHOUT GETTING CAPTURED! IF THEY TURNED EVIL RIKU, I HIGHLY DOUBT THEY'LL HAVE TROUBLE GETTING TO ME!"

More silence followed his words. They were stunned by his sudden outburst, and Sora was already beginning to feel a bit ashamed of himself. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Rike just shook his head. "It's okay Sora. We can understand it. But the one way they'll get to your heart faster is if you keep that attitude." Sora looked up. Riku was right.

"We'll just have to take this one step at a time," Aerieth said calmly. "Sora, if we can get you to the castle, you may be protected long enough for us to come up with a real pl..."

_knock knock_

Everyones' eyes darted to the door... someone was knocking to be let in. Leon stood up and slowly walked to the door. (Don't open the door you idiot!) There was something odd about the odd silence that had swept over the island. (Don't open the god damn door!) Leon's hand slowly drifted to the doorknob (You asshole, havn't you ever seen scary movies???? Don't open the fucking door!) His hand closed around it, and he pulled it open.... (NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!).... and there stood.... (Don't look!).... it was ... THE EASTER BUNNY! No, I'm just kidding. Malifecent stood, there, looking as deadly as ever. Her staff glowed with a black light, and she sent it slamming into Leon, sending him flying across the room and clearing her way to the entrance. Yuffie rushed to him to make sure he was okay. "Key bearer.... my time has come at last..."

They heard odd sounds coming from the corners of the room, and heartless started appearing like mad! They drew out their weapons and started attacking, but the more they destroyed, the more appeared. But the heartless didn't seem interested at all in anyone... everyone except Sora.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Sora cryed as he felt another set of claws slice themselves into his bared skin. They started to pil on top of him, stopping him from all movement. The others tryed to get to him ,but the shadows held them back.

"Sora!" cryed Kairi as she watched Sora dissapear beneath a pile of shadows.

A pool of darkness melted into view below Sora, and he could feel the cold darkness drawing him under! (Picture the cutseen in KH where Riku and Sora are both surrounded by that black smoke on Destiny Islands... thats what this looks like... only much more deadly )

"Darkness is here to take you Sora," Malifecent whispered, going down with him. "And you are going with it, whether you like it or not."

END

Me: WOOO HOOOOOO! I'm done chapter three! I'd just like to thank M. D Sora and Elagant Arrow for giving me so much confidence! I couldn't have fixed my self-confidence problem without you!

Kairi: Who cares about that, you just had my future boyfriend captured by evil forces! DIE!

Riku: Dude, you made Sora get captured... not cool.

Me: I'm sorry! bows deeply I won't do it again, I promise!

Sora: currently missing

Kairi: Come on Riku, we have to go find Sora!

Riku: Where are the others.

Leon:

Yuffie: Checking Leon

Aerieth: Healing King Mickey

King Mickey: OUCH!

Kairi: I wonder where Sora is...

Riku: Ask her points at me. She got him captured, she knows where he is!

All: Glare

Me: Uhh..... Read and Review!


	4. Follow Your Heart

FYI: This is a new chapter 4. I remade some parts, the part when Sora see's the villains. Re-did that part. Okay? Okay. Just letting you know.

Author Notes...

Me: WWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! (is sobbing histarically)

Kairi: I know you're sad about Sora, but it's your own fault.

Me: I'm not crying because I'm sad!

RIku: o.O Then why are you crying.

Me: (sniff sniff) I'm crying because of all of these excellent reviews I'm getting! I'm not worthy! I havn't even gotten flamed yet! All of these people who say my story is good.... (bursts into tears again.)

Yuffie: Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... maybe you should thank them.

Me: Oh yeah, I can! I have fifteen reviews! Thanks Yuffie! Now, thank you time! Wait... I can't get to the internet to look at the reviews because my damn step-dad is on! (and I hate him for more reasons then just one. I wish he would die.)

Leon: Why do you hate your step dad?

Me: (twitch) ask me that again, pretty-boy, and I will put you in Sora's place!

Leon: (gulp).

Yuffie: HEY! He's not your pretty boy! He's mine! Back off!

Me: Uuhhhhhhhhhh... whatever.

Warning: This chapter contains a TON of torture, so those of you with weak stomachs should not read this chapter!

CHAPTER TIME! AND SPECIAL THANKS TO ELEGANT ARROW FOR UPDATING HER STORY, BECAUSE IT IS WAY BETTER THEN MINE! IF YOU HAVN'T READ IT ALREADY, THEN READ IT!

Disclaimer: Despite the fact that I long to own Kingdom Hearts, I do not (tear drop). So don't send any damn lawyers after me! Now go away and read my fic! Which, according to others, is very good. Britt over and out.

Hotel

"Darkness wants you Sora, and it will have you. Whether you like it or not..."

The hotel turned completely black for a moment, and the light slowly returned. Malifecent had dissapeared. So had the heartless. And so had Sora.

"GOD DAMN IT!" roared Riku, his eyes blazing and anger coursing through his veins faster the the speed of light. "HE'S GONE! THEY TOOK HIM! GOD DAMN IT!"

"Sure, point out the obvious won't you," Donald snapped as he searched for potions and was trying his hardest not to let any tears fall from his eyes; he was losing. Goofy had tears pouring down his face along with Yuffie, who was helping Leon up. Kairi just stood there,crying silently. She stared at the spot where she had last seen Sora, as if expecting him to pop up from the ground with his cheesy grin. _This all has to be a bad dream. He can't be gone.... if they really have him... they'll... then they'll...._

"Sora!" she cried out. "You can't be gone! Come back! SORA!"

''It's no use," Leon grunted. "We're all doomed. The kid is as good as de..."

"Sora won't die! He can't!" Kairi said. More hot tears escaped from her eyes.

Mickey put a hand on her shoulder, and he turned to the others. "Sora still has a chance to live," he said. Everyone stared at him. They had given up hope already. "We may still get to him, if we get there quickly. We just need a plan.... a good one."

"All we know is that he's somewhere in Hollow Bastion," Riku said. "And we all know that place is huge. They have so many secret entrances and hidden rooms.... it would take us forever to find him, even if Yuffie and Leon know their way around."

"How can we find him?" Goofy asked. Now it was his turn to be stared at. Then again, it wasn't very odd for everyone to stare at Goofy. He never really gave up hope, especially when it came to his closest friends.

"Well..." Mickey began. "I know of one guy."

"Who?" Yuffie asked eagerly.

"The magician," he said. "He knows all the secrets of the worlds, and I'm sure he can track down Sora."

Everyone looked at each other. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Riku asked. "Let's go get him!"

"Are you sure we should waste time trying to find the magician?" Kairi asked. "It will take a while to find him, shouldn't we just use the time to look for Sora ourselves?"

King Mickey shook his head. "I'm afraid not Kairi. We will never find him without the magician's help, so we need to risk the chance. Sora's heart is the strongest I have ever seen. He cannot possibly die within a day. Or..." but he stopped short. He wasn't about to tell them what the villain's real plans to do with Sora were. That would really bring down their morals. He had been tipped off by his spies (yes people, Mickey Mouse has spies! Don't care if it's not right!).

Kairi opened or mouth to ask him to finish his sentance, but Donald cut her off. "What are we still doing here! Get on the gummi ship! We should try to find him at his house at Traverse Town." They nodded and filed out. Kairi hesitated, and turned back to the huge scorch mark that was there from when the pool of darkness had appeared and swallowed Sora up. "Hang on Sora, where ever you are. I'm coming to find you."

Torture Chamber(Here comes the part that lives up to this story's rating)

Sora creaked an eye open and groaned. His body was chained to a wall, holding him by his wrists. Idiots, didn't even bother to tie down his ankles.

The last thing he remembered was several heartless straining him back and tying him to the wall. Sora had actually putten up a pretty good fight. They had taken his keyblade away and locked it in some part of the castle. When he was chained down, Malifecent said she would be back with a surprise. Now Sora was left here, only left to wonder what the 'surprise' could be. He bet his life it was nothing good. And he may just be betting on his life in a bit.

_Holy shit... holy shit... what have I gotten myself into?.... Holy shit.... I'm going to die.... what could they possibly do to me..... what sort of torture.... do I even want to know?_ Thoughts raced through his mind at one thousand miles per hour, and he was starting to get a headache from it all.

His eyes were starting to droop down, every bone in his body screaming for sleep. How long had he been here? He looked at his watch, but it had stopped. Something about this place had kept the hands from ticking on, driving him mad. He guessed about an hour, but he wasn't sure. He fell into a daze, but slammed his head into the wall to keep awake. But it only worked for a moment or so. The last of his strength drifted away as he fell into a deep sleep, hanging from the chains of hell.

Like, an hour or so later

Evil cackles rang through the cell. "Wake up, keybearer," a voice teased.

Sora clenched his fists together and his face paled. He knew those voices and it was then that he realized what his 'surprise' was. _This is going to be hell. _

He opened his eyes and looked forward with defiant eyes and his feet now planted firmly on the ground. _It's them_.

They just looked at at him evily; Ursula, Hook, Hadies, Jafar, Oogie Boogie, and Malifecent.

"What the hell do you want?" spat Sora. They just laughed at him.

"Why, he dares to speak to us!" Malifecnt stated.

"You should know very well what we want, keybearer," hissed Jafar.

But Sora really wasn't paying attention. He was just snapping his fingers together and opening and closing his mouth in the way that meant all that they were saying was a load of bullshit.

"Oh yeah, that's really funny!" Hadies snapped.

"Very mature," Jafar said, rolling his eyes.

"I know!" Sora said in the most cheerful voice he could muster at the moment.

"Can we please get down to business?" Malifecent snapped. She then turned with a smirk to Sora. "So, you like making fools of us, eh keybearer?"

"Yeah, pretty much." The only reason Sora was putting on this brave front was because it distracted them from hurting him. The plan was working very well at the moment.

"We're not the ones making fools of ourselves. That would be you." When Sora raised an eyebrow, her smirk just grew. "You honestly think you're on the right side?"

"Yes, I do!" Sora said. Hatred was growing inside of him, and he didn't like the feeling it was giving him. He forced it down and looked her in the eyes.

"You do, do you? So far, all the side of light has given you is limits as to what to feel. I know what you're feeling now Sora. Fear, anger.... and you don't think it's right? Who told you that? Your beloved friends? The ones who allowed you to get taken?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BITCH!" Sora roared.

"Why should I?" Malifecent asked. "No one is controlling me... giving me rules to follow and boundries and lines not to cross. I have chosen the right path. You are making the biggest mistake of your life. If you joined us, you wouldn't ever have to suffer again."

It was then that Sora realized that their real purpose wasn't just to get their revenge. It was something more. "You're crazy if you think that I will actually help you take over!"

"Oh really?" Malifecent asked. "Are you sure about that?"

He stared at her. "More sure then I've ever felt in my life."

Anger flitted across Malifecent's face, but is was soon replaced by her old evil smile. "Fine, as you wish. But don't you remember what I said? Darkness will have you, whether you like it or not. So you can either join us now, or have us force you into it. You choose."

"Good luck with that," Sora growled. "I'll never given in to darkness!"

"Fine by us," she said. "Have fun, Hook."

And so it began.

The Gummi Ship

Donald was smoothly cruising the ship through deep space, with Goofy at defense and keeping up their power. Normally, Sora was in charge of weapons, but since he was no longer here, Leon took the job. The rest of them sat in silence, just thinking the worst possible thoughts... Was Sora dead?

They landed a half an hour later and walked through the world exit and into the town square. But something was very wrong here. No one was around. Not a whisper could be heard through out the enire town.

"Whatever is going on here, I'm willing to bet it's not good," Aerieth mumbled. No one said anything, but they all agreed. They took a few steps in, the sound of their footsteps echoing. Then, a ring of wiggling black dots enclosed them and they watched in fear as they formed tons of little black creatures. The humans took their fighting stances as the heartless came at them. They slashed at the foe, but wern't really getting anywhere.

"God damn," Leon called. "I knew you said there would be a few heartless left, Mouse, but this is getting a bit out of hand!"

King Mickey was too busy fighting to listen and make a come-back to Leon. Yuffie had borrowed one of Donald's magical staves and was now shooting fire spells at them. Yuffie used her starblades to send slicing through them. Leon took charge at them with his sword, Goofy with his sheild, and Mickey with his keyblade. But it was just as useless as it was at the hotel; more and more just kept on coming.

"We need to get to the Magicians house!" Aerieth yelled over the noice. The group ran through the mess to second district, carving a path through the heartless. When they finally got to the swampy, heartless-free zone of the Magicians house, they were all out of breath and gulping down potions to heal themselves.

They made their way across the moving rocks, Goofy falling into the water several times before he finally got there. Not bothering to knock, they walked inside.

The room was not covered in furniture, tables, and other homely things as it usually was when the Magician was home. It was just old boards with little light.

King Mickey walked in a bit further. "Magician?" he called. A figure appeared in the corner of the room, flashing with bright light that went through the whole room and stayed there, giving it a safer feeling. But it wasn't the magician.... it was the fairy godmother.

"Hello," she said pleasently. "What brings you here?"

"This place is crawling with heartless and you ask us why we're here?" Riku asked.

The fairy godmother raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm quite sure that even you wouldn't be stupid enough to try and just go out and kill them one by one." She turned away from the now angry white-haired boy and to King Mickey. "I presume this has something to do with the second door?"

"We wish," Mickey said. "Y'see, they've taken Sora to Hollow Bastion. And you know why. " Both of their expressions tuned dark as everyone else just sat there, completely confused. "There are so many secrets there, we wouldn't know where to begin lookin'. So do you know where the magician is? We figure he might know."

The fairy godmother sighed. "Knowing the secrets of Hollow Bastion won't help."

"Why not?" King Mickey asked.

"The answer is not in any deep, dark secret, King. It lies within your heart."

"Well, how do we get it out of our hearts?"

The Godmother giggled. "That, I cannot tell you."

Aerieth sighed. "Can't you just go and get the magician? We are wasting time, and we don't have any to spare."

"Well, I'm afraid the magician's not here," she said. "He went looking for you, sire. He is at the Disney Castle."

Kairi hit herself on the head repeatidly; they were wasting so much time! Yuffie grabbed hold of Kairi to stop her from hurting herself, and they started to make their way to the door. King Mickey turned around and called "Thank you,"

"I did you no favor," she said. The answer does not lie within anyone but you. Just follow your heart." And with that, she dissapeared, taking the light with her.

After battling their way to the gummi ship, they set a course towards Disney Castle and took off. Some heartless tried to hang onto the roof, but they were soon blown off when the ship went into hyperspeed.

"What if...." mumbled Kairi. "What if we don't make it there in time?"

Riku put his arm around her (In a brotherly kind of way you idiots!). "Don't worry, we'll find him. No matter what. I promise."

Torture Time, Cover Your Eyes

All of the villains stalked out of the room except for Hook, who was giving Sora an evil look that he really didn't like.

"So, brat, you thought you could get away from us?" Hook asked, slashing him across the arm. He then stuck his hook into the flap of skin and yanked, causing to rip itself rom the rest of the body. Sora bit his lips and controlled the scream that was surfacing in his throat.

He continued to make various slashes across his arms and chest and face, making him bleed. But Sora still refused to scream.

Hook just smirked and plunged the hook into his chest, and twisted it around. He brought it up and yanked, ripping his skin from the inside out. Sora grunted from the pain, but did not scream. He couldn't scream, that would be a way of showing him that he was winning.

"God damn it, you're not indestructable!" Hook yelled. "Scream or something!"

Sora just smirked at him, earning him a hard hit across the jar with the hook. Sora groaned, and his eyes burned with hot tears that were threatening to fall.

"Listen you little twirp..." Hook said. Sora didn't look at him; big mistake. He dug his hook into his chin and hooked it under the jawbone and pulled forward. This caused Sora's head to jerk forward, following the will of the looked that was in it. "We are offering you the chance of a lifetime. You can join us now and save yourself the rest of the pain. You won't ever have to worry again, and you could rule!"

"How come I have the feeling that you're going to be the one who rules, and I'll be the little puppet who got you there," Sora growled, spitting blood out along with the words. ''No way in a lifetime am I going to come to you willingly."

Hook growled and ripped down at the skin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of black liquid and splashed it on Sora. It stung like hell.

Hook smirked. "That'll stop the bleeding," he said evilly. "But it won't help the pain any." And with an evil laugh, he clunked off, leaving Sora hanging, limp from pain, from the chains of his own personal hell.

Gummi Ship

They were within half an hour of Disney Castle. Everyone was thinking of the fairy godmother's words, but none talked about it. What did she mean by the answer lies within your heart? No one could figure it out, and it was driving them crazy with all of this suspense. Damn fairies, you can never get a sraight answer from them.

It was then that it happened. Kairi grasped her hand over her chest in pain, yelling out. Mickey quickly put the ship on auto-pilot and rushed over to her along with everyone else.

"Kairi, Kairi what's wrong?" Mickey asked. But Kairi could answer she gasped as pain swamped her in waves from her heart. But somehow, she knew where it was coming from.... and why.

"Sora...." she grunted. "Something's wrong.... terribly wrong." She shook slightly as the pain ebbed away as quickly as it had come.

She stood up on trembling legs as Yuffie and Goofy helped her into a chair.

"What's wrong with Sora?" King Mickey asked. "What happened?"

Once she regained control of herself, she spoke. "I could feel it, in my heart. He's in pain. I don't know what theyre doing to him, but I can tell. He won't last long."

King Mickey frowned and looked outside. He knew that they wouldn't kill Sora yet, they still needed him But still, what would happen if Sora did give in? After all, he was only fifteen years old....

But the King's thoughts were interupted by Riku's angry voice.

"That's it!" Riku yelled. "You need to tell us what they really want with Sora and you need to tell us _now!_"

Mickey took a step back from him in shock. No one had really ever said anything like that directly to him. He sighed_. Might as well get this over with._

"Well, since the leaders of the Heartless are back, they obviously want to accomplish what they wanted before.... they want to harness the ultimate darkness which can now only be found behind the second door. But of course, Sora was able to defeat them, and thus they dissapeared. But is seems they have been reborn from the darkness of the second door. Now they seek to harness the power of it. With that power, they will be able to rule all worlds. But they cannot open the door, not with out one very important detail...."

"Sora," Kairi said quietly.

Mickey nodded. "Yes, they need the key to open the door."

"But then, why don't they try and kidnap you and use your keyblade? Why Sora?" Leon asked.

"Well, our keyblades our very different. Sora's keyblade can unlock, and mine locks. They need it to unlock, so that is why they need Sora. Also, mine is the King Keyblade. It has the power of the kings, and holds a different power then Sora's. When a new king is ready, their keyblades will switch, and he will hold the King Keyblade."

Then, to everyone else, he said, "We'd better get moving if we are planning on getting to Disney Castle."

Donald walked up to the controls. "Buckle up everyone, I'm going to be trying to cut our speed in half." Everyone rushed into their seats and buckled up; there was nothing more dangerous then an angry Donald with a hyperspeed button.

Torture Place Thingy

"So, have you decided yet?" a voice called through his mind. Sora's eyes creaked open to see Malifecent standing there, already wearing her triumphant smirk. _Damn her._

Sora had just finished off with his lesson with the evil witch of the sea. She had strangled him with her tenticles and sent electricity at him with Tritan's staff which she had 'borrowed' for the occasion. But when she had her tenticles around his chest, crushing him, she had made the mistake of leaving the Tridant right by the side of his face. He had thrown his head forward and hooked it under the bottom part of the spear end of the Tridant and slammed it into her tenticle, cutting it clean off. She was dangerously close to becoming a squid. But she had take her revenge by attaching the suckers of her remaining limbs and stuck them to his exposed skin, and sucked small holes of his skin off. OUCH!

"I've told you, I'm not giving in. Bitch."

This made her anger heighten, and she summoned dark green enrgy to the end of her staff and sent it slamming into him. He whimpered pathetically, but it was drowned out by the rushing sound of the blast. It felt as if millions of ice cold needles were stabbing themsekves into him.

When she finally stopped, Sora was gasping for breath. His jaw ached from him clenching his teeth so much. He blinked the blood from his eyes and just glared at her. "I'm not giving in. You can do what you want with me, but I'll never give in! My heart is too strong for you!" He coughed, sputtering up some blood from his hurt lungs.

"Silence!" she snapped. ''If you will not learn obedience, then perhaps you will need more lessons." She smirked. ''Let me see how you do with Jafar.'' And with that, she walked off.

Sora closed his eyes in pain. Tears of pain would not stop coming down, and his vision blurred. He drifted off into an uneasy slumber.

Dreams

Sora opened his eyes and expected to see Jafar there, ready with some new system of in-human torture. But what he saw was the complete opposite. He was in some kind of feild, surrounded by bright green trees that held nothing but peace. The sky was a baby blue with clouds scattered every here and then, all forming some unique shape and never coming in the way of the sun that spread warm light over the rolling grass. His hurts were gone as he walked through the long grass. He couldn't help but feel relaxed. Then a sudden thought hit him._ Am I dead?_

"You're not dead, you lazy bum." Sora turned around to see the owner of the voice. It was Kairi. He was shocked, and only came back down to his sences when Kairi got him with a bone-crushing hug.

"KAIRI!" he cried, hugging her in return. They broke apart in a few minutes, slightly embarressed by their actions. They sat down on the springy soft grass; it felt like lying on clouds.

"Sora...." Kairi said quietly. He looked over at her and saw a serious expression. "I know what they're doing. You can't give in. That's why I'm here. You just can't give up hope, don't go to the darkness."

Sora shuddered. "But... it hurts... so much. I can't stand the pain much longer."

"Sora, you're stronger then that!" Kairi insisted. "You heart can pass physical endurance!"

"But my body may not survive! I can die any moment now! And I won't be able to come back!" he exclaimed. "And where are all of you? I thought you would have found me by now."

"We know," Kairi said. "We're going to the Disney Castle right now, we'll find the magician! He will help us find you and...."

But Sora was just shaking his head at her, smiling sadly. "There is no entrance as to where I am," he said. "You can't find where I am with directions or a map."

Kairi began to cry again. "Then how can we find you?" she cried out.

Sora tucked his hand under her chin and wiped away her tears away with hiw thumb. Then he smiled swetly at her. "You know where to find me," he told her.

She wore a puzzled expression on her face. "No, I don't."

"Yes, you do," he insisted. "You're directions are right here." He took her hand and placed it over her heart. "Just follow your heart."

The world was starting to blur. "We must be waking up," Sora said.

"But Sora!" Kairi cried. "I still don't understand!"

"Follow your heart!" he called. They were drifting apart.

"But..." It was then that she understood. Her last glimpse of Sora, that last look into his eyes, told her everything.

Back to the World of Reality

"Kairi, wake up!" someone exclaimed. She jolted up. They had landed outside Disney Castle and were looking at her.

"Get this thing back up in the air!" Kairi cried. "Get to Hollow Bastion! Quick!"

''But Kairi..." Mickey said. "we don't know where he is, I thought we already established this!"

"No, I understand it now!" she told them. "In my dream, Sora told me! He was there! He's in danger, and he needs our help! Don't worry, I know where he is! He told me to follow me heart, and thats where he is! Trust me!"

Ta Da!

Me: Well, how did you like it? Too sappy? Too much torture? Not enough comedy? Too much seriousness? Just tell me in a review and I will fix it!

Kairi: Come on guys, let's go get Sora!

Leon: What the hell do you mean follow your heart?

Yuffie: Where's Sora?

Sora: Hi guys!

All: SORA!!!

Sora: YUP!

Riku: But, we thought you were kidnapped!!!

Sora: Yeah, in the story! But this isn't technically part of the story! So I can talk to you guys here!

Kairi: So, let's go find you in the story!

Leon: Where are you anyways?

Sora: Kairi knows! She'll show you!

Riku: Damn it.

Yuffie: Don't you know where you are? o.O

Sora: Eerrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... not really. I kinda forgot.

All: --

Me: You'll find him eventually.

Sora: Good. And I'd better get paid for this torture thing.

Me: I'M NOT PAYING YOU!

Sora:

Me: Review!


	5. Torture Sucks

Me: Hello reviewer people!

Reviewer People: Hi!

Me: Okay, My self confidence has run out as I read over chapter four. It's not that good and I practically gave away the ending! I hate life, it sucks.

Sora: You're no one to complain! You're not getting tortured!

Me: Oh shut up.

Sora: Why don't you torture Riku?

Me: BECAUSE RIKU IS GOD DAMN SEXY!

All: o.O

Yuffie: She's got a good point.

Leon: Are you trying to take away my girlfriend?!?

Riku: (gulp) NO!

Leon: (jumps on Riku and starts beating him up)

Sora: Now you know what it feels like. And that torture thing you wrote about with my chin.... yeah, that hurt like HELL!

Me: I know.

Okay, review time!

ElegantArrow 64

You're right, Riku is just too damn sexy to torture!

Riku: Chicks dig me.

Sora: Shut the hell up!

Me: Anyways.... I just got back from Disney World, and I saw King Mickey's spies all over the place. Damn spies. Well, thanks for all of the excellent reviews and support even though my story is way too obvious!

Sorceress Sakura

I'm sorry I tortured Sora, alright? And I updated, so don't bug me. It's not like I'm DigitalDreamer! lol. Thanks for the great reviews!

Merielle

Okay, you scare me. And let Ken out of the darn chains! Even though he did like the Sora getting tortured part.... you know what? Just leave Ken in the chains. And thank you for the free chocolate! Since we're in the giving mood, here's a giant hershey kiss! Now read the chapter! And by the way, keep on sending me those long reviews, they make me feel special! (huggles review).

Lone Warrior2

Not enough torture for you, huh? Well try this chapter! Most of it is torture! So are you happy now? Good. Read!

AJ Taylir

Guick, get untangled from the suspence! You must read! (hands you a pair of scissors to free yourself) Thanks for the great reviews!

Majora's Spawn

What the hell do you mean make Sora suffer incredible pain? Wow, you are strange. (backs away slowly from your review.) Thanks for the great reviews anyway!

M.D Sora

Okay, lets get this straight. My story will never be as great as yours! Yours rocks my socks! I never liked stories like that until I read yours! You rock out loud!

done!

Me: Okay, it's time for the next chapter. I have no clue what to write, I'm just making this up as I go. All I know is that it contains way more torture then the other one did.

Torture Place

Sora figured that this had to be the worse wake up call he had ever had in his entire life. The call was a plunge into the stomach with a Mystical Staff with the shape of a cobra. He almost screamed, but remembered himself and kept his mouth tightly shut.

Jafar grinned. "Did you sleep well?" He slanted the staff to the left, and dragged to the right, pulling Sora's insides with it. AGONY! Sora groaned as he felt the new placement of several organs and was gasping for air when Jafar finally yanked it out of him.

Sora winced as he opened his mouth to try and throw an insult at him. The gash under his chin left by Hook was still there, and hurt like a demon. Jafar just smirked and said, "That whole in your neck really isn't big enough for my liking." Sora's eyes widened in fear... he could see what was coming. Jafar held the staff on one end of the cut and pulled outward. The slash then split to twice its size, running from half way down his neck to the tip of his chin.

Sora gasped in pain and tears rolled down his cheeks. _Don't scream... don't scream... don't scream... don't scream...._

Jafar yanked his staff out, and then brought it up with full force to the center of the wound. There was the sound of Sora's jawbone being broken into tiny peices. The staff ripped all the way through to the bottom of his mouth and through his tongue. He then twisted it around, causing Sora even more pain.

He couldn't stand it anymore. Sora screamed as loud as his lungs would permit. But he quickly stopped when a memory flashed through his mind._ Kairi. She wouldn't want me to give them the honor of making me give in. I must fight back._

The staff grew to a firery temperature at the end of it, as hot as magma, burning his mouth and chin from the inside out. When he fininshed, he stood back to admire his handywork. _Not bad, _Jafar thought, _but I can do better._

Jafar summoned the fire lazer to the end of the staff and sent it slamming into Sora's left arm, burning a hole right through it. Sora grunted, and let the tiniest of whimpers escape from his lips as he studyed the hole through his arm. How was he going to live through this? He really didn't know. How was Sora's skin keeping in one peice and not just falling off? The author is not telling.

Jafar laughed loudly. "Give it up, boy," he growled. "You shall die in the end. But if you come with us, we will spare you. And there is so much to gain! What can you possibly win by going through this? Only pain!"

"No, I can win more," Sora mumbled, trying not to move his tongue a lot. It had that giant hole in it. But all he succeded in was hooking his teeth into the hole and making it grow wider and more blood spilled out. Sora spat out the blood, and said slowly, "I will win the safety for all worlds. If I die, I die. It can't be any worse then this. Nothing is."

Jafar's smile widened at his last two comments. "If nothing is worse then this, then just join us! After all, nothing can be worse then what you are going through now! You said it yourself."

Sora winced; _Jafar was... he was.... NO! I will NOT give in! I'm stronger then them. I can still get out of this alive! I can still... I can still... I can still... _

But even as Jafar left to go get Malifecent, even as the thoughts raced through Sora's mind, he realized something; his hope was running thing. His trust was diminishing. _What if his friends really had forgotten him? What if they didn't care? And what was really so bad about joining them anyway? NO! NO! I will NOT think that! I will get through this. They're looking for me right now, that's what Kairi told me. I will survive. I know so... I hope so.... God damn them all.... I miss my island... I just want to go home... Just let me live long enough to see my island one more time... please... Just once more...._

Gummi Ship

"Kairi, what the hell are you talking about?" Riku snapped. His friend was losing it.

Kairi glared at him. Why didn't any of them get it yet? "I had a dream," she said slowly. "Sora was there. He's giving up soon, and we have to help him! He told me that we can't find him with directions. The place he is can only be found by the hearts of the people inside the room. We need Sora's heart to find him, and that's what we have to follow!"

"Okay, Kairi, do you mind explaining?" Aerieth asked. ''How do we use his heart if he has it?"

"Don't you get it?" Kairi asked. "Sora's heart is inside of us! It's always been there. We just have to follow the way that are hearts are pointing us, and it will get us there."

When she had finished, they were all staring at her. Damn, she was smart. By then, they had been at Disney Castle for five minutes and several people had come on board to see who the hell had just flown in. It was Stewlart, the advisor that usually taught new staff and was the King's teacher when he was taking lessons (yeah, there's lots of stuff you have to learn to become king! Lots of lessons and stuff) and the Magician; the Magician was smiling. They had all heard Kairi's little speech.

"I'm glad that you have finally figured it out, young Miss," the Magician said. He turned to King Mickey, Riku, Aerieth, Donald, Goofy, Leon and Yuffie. "She is right. You must go to Sora this instant. He is in grave danger and I do not know how long his heart can stayin the light. Fly straight to Hollow Bastion, and find him. Your hearts will indeed lead you there."

"Your majesty," Stewlart said, "The moniter has picked up the n..."

"I know," King Mickey said. "We'll deal with one problem after the other. Just prepare." Stewlart bowed his head and King Mickey rolled his eyes; he hated it when people treated him like.... well.... a king.

"Come on then," Goofy said. "Sora's a' waitin for us!"

The Magician and Stewlart were leaving the pain when they realized someone else was going with them.

"Aerieth?" Yuffie asked, "Arn't you coming with us?"

Aerieth just shook her head sadly. "No, I am not that close of a friend. I would just get in the way. You go on without me." She glanced at King Mickey. "I will help Stewlart prepare." King Mickey nodded his head once, and then gave them the for them to take off. Donald pulled down the lever and closed the doors. They hovered for a moment, and then took off at top speed, blowing up dust in thick clouds.

They had traveled for around an hour at the same high speed, when Donald threw the ship into a complete stop, sending everyone flying into the front of their seatbelts.

"DONALD!'' Leon roared. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!?" Everyone sat there, rubbing their chests from where the seatbelt had hit them, glaring at Donald.

But Donald didn't even notice them. He was gaping with his mouth open at something ahead of them. Everbody slowly got up from their seats and looked out the window. What they saw saw truly terrifying.

Ahead of them, not a fifth of a mile away, was an entire fleet of thousands of Heartless ships. And from the look of them, loaded with weapons. "Oh shit..." Kairi muttered. Had they not been in a state of complete shock, they would have been very surprised to hear Kairi curse.

"What now?" Yuffie murmered. ''The only way to Hollow Bastion is through there, and there's nothing to hide behind so they won't see us!''

"As Sora once said..." Leon said. "We are totally screwed."

Mickey put on a look of absolute concentration. "We need to go through them." Nobody argued with him. They were just as dead set on getting Sora back then he was.

Goofy got to work on putting up as much defense as possible, addind defense-g's. Leon took his choice of heavy weapons, and loaded them with as much deadly amo as could fit. Donald switched the ship to flying position again, heading fastly towards the oncoming army. "They're almost within firing range, everybody hold on..."

And then the shots came down like hail. The emergency lights were going on withing ten seconds as they desperately tryed to destroy as many ships as possible and trying desperately to heal the ship. Nothing was working. The health meter was going down, and they just couldn't destroy enough.

"DONALD!" King Mickey yelled over the noise. "Do we have enough power to go into hyperspeed and go right through them?"

"We barely have enough energy to keep this ship moving!" Donald snapped, not caring if it was the king he was talking to.

Then, a ship managed to fire right into their defensive system, causing them to burst into flame. "We're going down!" Riku yellled.

"Going down where?" Kairi yelled as the ship turned over and over in the air.

"Oh no..." Leon said, staring outside the window. "Please don't tell me it can't get any worse then this."

They looked outside and received another shock. It was coming right towards them! It opened it's mouth and swallowed him whole.

They all screamed as they ran down a bumby trail through a large red tube and splashing right into a puddle of water with over-large piles of wood coming up every here and there.

"Well," Mickey said, "the good news is, the water put out the fire. The bad news is, we're inside Monstro." (No shit Sherlock!)

Meanwhile, Back in Sora's own Personal Hell...

"Well, are you quite done yet?"

Sora just glared at her. Most of the colors he could see were only red, since blood was leaking into his eyes. Jafar had finished his fun and now it was, once agin, Malifecent's turn to come and try to pursuade him. Wow, thye were developing a schedule. That scares me. Sra could no longer talk, his tounge severed too badly. Even if he could talk, it might make the slach across his neck even worse. Right now he needed better, not worse. He just stared at her with all of the defiance he could muster.

Malifecent smiked. "Fine then. As you wish." She raised her staff and send more dark green power into him. His hurts pained him twice as bad, but he still refused to scream. It felt as if every vein in his body was being ripped, his blood reached boiling temperature as it streamed through and out of his body.

She kept this going for a few more moments, and then released him from the pain. He tried to catch his breath, but it was running too fast for him.

_'I don't want to be the one _

_who battles the issues,'_

" Give in keybearer,"

_' Cause inside I realize _

_That I'm the one confused'_

"NEVER!"

_' I don't know what's worth fighting for,_

_Or why I have to scream,"_

"Then suffer!" She blew another attack at him.

_' I don't know why I instigate _

_And say what I don't mean.'_

He whimpered, but still didn't scream.

_'I don't know how I got this way,_

_I know it's not all right.'_

"Idiot boy."

_'So I'm breaking the habit,_

_I'm breaking the habit,_

_I'm breaking the habit....'_

"Bitch..."

_'... tonight!'_

"You can never defeat us!"

'_I'll paint it on the walls!_

_Cause I'm the one that falls!'_

"You can never defeat my heart!'

_'I'll never fight again!_

_So this is how it ends!'_

She put him through more pain of another attack.

_'I don't know what's worth fighting for,_

_Or why I have to scream,'_

_Don't scream.... whatever I do, I can't scream!_

_'But now I have some clarity_

_To tell you what I mean!'_

The pain grew larger and larger, tearing him apart.

_' I don't know how I got this way, _

_I know its not alright.'_

Malifecent turned up the power.

_'So I'm breaking the habit,_

_I'm breaking the habit,_

_I'm breaking the habit....'_

Sora threw back his head....

_'TONIGHT!'_

and he screamed louder then he had ever screamed before.

Monstro

"What do we do now?" Kairi asked in a small voice.

"Might as well go look around" said King Mickey. "Might as well go see if there's anyone else in here then can help us get out."

Leon snorted. "If there was anyone in here who knew how to get out, do you honestly think they would stick around?" King Mickey and Leon argued for a few more minutes, Mickey winning in the end, of course. I mean, he's Mickey Mouse!

They wadded through the water and to land. They took a look at the now incredibly damaged gummi ship. It didn't look fit to be in a dumpster!

Riku was frowning deeply. This place brought back terrible memories that he wanted to forget.

They looked around the entire place, not finding a trace of any living being in there besides them. Then, they eventually came back to the place they started from.

Riku groaned. How could they ever ind their way out.

"What now?" Yuffie asked. And this time, the king was actually out of answers and good ideas. Even Goofy was losing his hope. This was definately not good. They were screwed. Then, water started to flow from all around them. _What the hell is going on?_

"Everyone, to the gummi ship!" Donald yelled. They scurried across the area and climbed into the ship. Water continued to rapidly flow in. raising the gummi ship. There was some kind of suction coming from a whole in the ceiling.

"You don't think..." Goofy began. But his words were cut off by a loud whooshing as them and the awater blew threw the hole, sending them out into space, and zooming into the water of a different planet; Hollow Bastion. Everyone scrambled out the door and looked at the whale, which was waving his tail in farewell.

No one could make heads or tails of this. Monstro had... _helped_ them?

"Could this week get any weirder?" Yuffie asked.

Mickey walked into the back of the ship and came out with.... ten different moogles?

"I need you guys to fix up the ship," Mickey told them.

"We will, moogle!" one of them squeeked. They set to work at once with their tools.

But as it turned out, the day could get weirder. As they walked up to the big gates od Hollow Bastion, they could feel their hearts tugging torwards it. Oh yeah, follow you heart time.

Torture Again

The pain ceased and Sora fell lmp against his chains. He had given in and screamed. _Damn it._

Malifecnt wore a triumphant smile. "So, do you give in yet, key bearer?"

Sora just shot daggers at her with his eyes. "Hell no,"

Some sort of worry flitted across her face, but she hid it. ''Well then, maybe Oogie Boogie can soften you up a bit more?"

She left the room and in came the bag head.

"Well, looky looky!" Oogie said. "You look a bit uncmfortable!" Sora responded by spitting out a mouthful of blood at his feet. Oogie glared at him. "You're making a big mistake kid." Bugs started to crawl out from under the cloth. Half with pointy jaws, the other falf with scissors for heads. They crawled over Sora, getting at the ready. "Have it your way then."

The scissors started to snip at his skin slicing it it thin strips. The little jawed creatures crawled under his skin and started eating away at him, causing him to writh and squirm in pain. Despite the fact that this really didn't compare with Malifecent's torture, it stiff hurt like a bastard.

The bugs nawed and snipped away at the cut on his chin, eating and taking away chunks of his skin. One large scissor head sliced through the middle of his ear, cutting it in half on the middle. They dug under his nails, seperating the nail from flesh.

You could see small bumps rolling under his skin, showing where the bugs were carving their tunnels. They dug up from under his skin to breath, and then dove under again.

Oogie Boogie was now having various tools to hurt him. A saw moved across his right calf, cutting to the bone and revealing pink and bloody tissue. Hammers clunked along his body, snapping his bones and creating large bruises.

"Mr. Oogie Boogie!" The bag ghost turned around to see Malifecent standing there. "We have visitors. Return to your torturing of him later. The tools vanished and the bugs crawled back to Oogie, all dripping with blood.

"Who are the intruders?"

Malifecent looked coldly at Sora. "The brat's friends."

End

Me: DONE!

Sora: How am I still in one peice?

Riku: Not a clue.

Me:Review or suffer the consequences!

Sora: pain.... THE PAIN!

Kairi: You have a ten-second start...

Me: EEPPP!! (runs away)

Kairi: one... TEN! HERE I COME!

Sora: Oh heck, just review the damn chapter!


	6. Choose

Me: Okay, everybody, line up!

Everybody: (lines up)

Me: Okay, there are going to be some changes from now on.

Leon: More torture?

Me: That's the first change. Leon, you've gotta shut the hell up.

Leon: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!?

Me: It means you're not supposed to be the kind that talks a lot. Now, Sora and Riku.... you two can no longer get into big fights over the simplest things. You're supposed to be... what is that word? Oh yeah, wiser.

Riku: Umm... Sora's too simple minded.

Sora: And Riku turned to the evil side, how is that wise?

Me: I DON'T CARE! GET WISER. (Turns to short paragraphs.) You're gonna have to go.

Short paragraphs: Why?

Me: Cause people like longer paragraphs. Longer paragraphs?

Longer Paragraphs: PRESENT!

Me: You're in. Oh and by the way, Sora, you're gonna have to die.

Sora: WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?????

Me: Sorry, but no one can survive all of those injuries without dying. It wasn't my original plan, but oh well.

Yuffie: That's it! Where the hell did you get the idea to change your entire fucking writing style?

Me: Err.... a little but of 'constructive critisism'.

Riku: (reads review). That's not a piece of constructive critisism! That's a flame!

Kairi: (screams)Somebody, get the fire estinguisher!

Me: Guys, don't worry. It's just critisism. It is my first fic, after all. But it still hurt. A lot. Especially since it was written by one of my most favorite authors. (teardrop).

Aerieth: (sigh) Fine, as long as you don't get rid of us.

Me: Well.....

All: What is that supposed to mean?

Me: My story is just like everyone else's. And digital's and Arrow's. So, you all are going to have to go.

All: WHAT!

Kairi: You can't fire me, I quit! (bursts into tears).

Me: I'm so sorry. (reaches for the delete button).

All: NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Me: (CLICK!)

POOF!

(room is empty except for Britt and her loyal army of dimented french rabbits and skitzofrantic stuffed squirrels)

Me:Well, I guess it's just me and my army now.

Army: (walks off to Wendy's for some food.)

Me: Well, let me just say this. I have a self confidence problem, I've even talked to my math teacher and school guidance lady about it. So, if you have any 'constructive critisisms' to make, make them gentle. It felt like I got scorched from the last one. And I also already finished the first half of the chapter, so I'm not re-writing it. Deal with it! This is Britt saying... bye.

_Outside Hollow Bastion_

"Does anyone feel that?" Yuffie asked.

"Yeah," Riku said, nodding. "Sora's in there alright. I can feel it."

Leon pushed open the large gates and walked inside. It was very creepy, even creepier then usual. Something had changed. Darkness seemed to be gathering here, creating large pools of evil. It was unseen, but that didn't make it un-feelable.

"Well, no use just standing around here," piped up Mickey. "Let's go inside and see if the Magician's advice is any use."

They walked through the muck and cobblestones to the doors that led into Hollow Bastion. Of course, the doors were locked.

"Idiots," Leon muttered. He pointed his gunblade at the door and fired large balls of fire at it, sending it flying into the hallway. They walked through the singed hole and looked around.

There was something different alright. The hallways that were usually there no longer existed. They had been changed, making it impossible to tell where to go with your eyes. "Which way?" Yuffie asked. As if answering your question, a little voice spoke in their heads. "_The left"_

"Did anyone else hear that?" Leon asked. They all nodded. All of them knew what was going on, too; their hearts were guiding them.

Meeting Chamber

Oogie Boogie and Malifecent walked into the room, both looking annoyed; Malifecent was mad about the fact that Sora's friends had gotten inside and Oogie Boogie was mad because he hadn't yet finished his torturing.

"How did they know where to come?" Malifecent snapped.

"Gee, I don't know," Ursula said, rolling her eyes. "Could it be because.... all of the heartless are coming here? Nah, that couldn't possibly give it away."

Malifecent glared at her. "Just because you are in danger of becoming a squid soon, does not mean you can jest of my faults.", Malifecent smirked at the look of anger she saw on the sea witches face. She then turned to the others and said, "They can danger our plans. We need to get rid of them."

"No duh," Hook said.

Malifecent chose to ignore him.

"What's the use?" Boogie asked. "He's not giving in! How can we break him without causing enough pain? And if we do that, he'll just drop dead! We can't win! And the King and the kids are getting closer and closer to us, they'll get him out in no time!

Then, an idea hit her. Malifecents grin grew wider, and she stalked to her crystal globe (I can't think of a better name for it!). She tapped it once with her staff and in it glowed a picture of Goofy, Donald, Kairi, Riku, Leon, Yuffie, and King Mickey. "She is the key," Malifecent said, pointing to Kairi.

Hadies looked at his boss with a raised eyebrow. "Have you finally lost it?"

"No you fools!" she snapped. "Get the princesss of Heart! With her, the keybearer will give in to us easily."

The villains' eyes grew wide. "Can we actually do that? Do you think that will work?" Hadies asked.

"Of course it will work!" barked Malifecent.

"But, how are we supposed to get to her? She is too well protected!" Hook cried.

"But if we can seperate them..." she began, tapping the table and showing a map of the castle. "We will be able to capture her easily."

"Where shall we put them all?" Jafar asked.

"Well.... it would be best if we put them in different towers."

"No!" Ursala spat. "If they can follow the boy's heart, then it will only be a matter of time before they get here anyway!"

"Then where do you suggest we put them?"

Ursala grinned. "Mystic rooms." They all smiled. Everyone knew what mystic rooms were. They were deep chambers where darkness dwelled, feeding off of a person's deepest fears and trapping them away from the light.

"Someone will need to get there and say the incantations." Hook said.

"I'll do that," Hadies said. "I havn't gotten to torture the kid yet, you could at least let me have a little fun."

"Whatever," Malifecent murmered. "Just hurry it up." With that, Hadies burst into flamed and dissapeared.

_Wandering the Hallways of Hollow Bastion_

They wern't sure how long they had been walking for. All they knew was that they were taking a big gamble. They could feel their hearts pumping faster and faster, pulling them in the right direction.

They rounded another corner, and things started to grow dark. The walls faded from view, and they couldn't see a thing!

"What the hell is going on?" Leon yelled. "Is this a new trap or something?"

"You wish." A blueish light cam from ahead, lighting up there vision; Hadies was here.

(Okay people, I'm going to have to have to type the rest of this dumb chapter later. My mind has gone completely blank. BYE!)

( Next Day: MAJOR BRAIN BLAST! NO MORE WRITERS BLOCK! I CAN TYPE! I'M FREE! NOW IT GETS GOOD, PEOPLE! READ, AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!)

"Where the hell is Sora?" Leon roared. "What have you done to him?"

"Well..." Hadies began, getting an evil look on his face. "Everbody else is being unfair. They all got their chances to torture him, and I havn't had my turn yet!"

Hadies laughed when he saw all of their faces drain of color.

"What do you think you'll accomplish by torturing Sora?" King Mickey declared. "His heart is way too strong for you!"

"Well, no duh," Hadies said. "We've already figured out that he's gone past the point where he actually cares if he dies or not. No, we've come up with a new plan..." He fixed his blazing eyes on Kiari and her eyes widened. It was then that the others figured out what the new plans were. They formed a tight circle around Kairi, holding up their weapons.

"If you think that you're seperating us, then you must be out of your mind!" Donald quacked.

"Yeah, you can't break through our rust!" Goofy added.

Hadies raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean trust?"

"Yeah, what did I say?"

"Rust."

"What 'bout the dust?"

The flames on Hadies grew as did his anger. "TRUST!" he yelled. "I cannot break your TRUST!"

Yuffie smirked. "You've got that right."

It took a few moments for Hadies to realize what he had just said, and then anger was etched on every feature of his face. "Oh yeah, that's real funny... YOU'RE GOING DOWN! DARKNESS WILL HAVE ITS WAY WITH YOU!" (from now on, this is my new writing style.)

His body began to glow black as he muttered the incantation "Mosouyi cappai.... mosouyi cappai... mosouyi cappai..." The ground began to shake and tremble. Bolts of lightning erupted from the skys and sparkled along the ground and staying there. It began to spin quiclky around them all, enfusing them with darkess. "Mosouyi cappai..... mosouyi cappai...." Bolts erupted from the ground, seperating the heroes.

"Somebdy, get to Hadies!" King mickey yelled. "Break his concentration!" But no matter how hard they tried, it was no use; whenever they cast a spell at the God of the Underworld, a bolt of lightning erupted and blocked the attack. The bolts soon formed cages around them, trapping them in. That is, everyone except for Kairi. She desperately tried to break the bars, but they were indestructable; nothing could get them out! They soon began to slowly sink beneath the ground, dragging the prisoners with them. Hadies continued to chant.

Kairi screamed as she watched them dissapear beneath the shadows, all locked away. There was a flash of dark, black energy and then.... there was not a trace of any left. Hadies grinned demonically at the princess of heart, who looked scared out of her mind. "Wh-what have you done to them?" Kairi stuttered, trying and failing to look brave.

Hadies just laughed. "Well, if you must know, they're in spirit rooms. They're not getting out, and they'll be left there to rot!" Kairi's eyes grew in fear, and Hadies just laughed. Kairi threw blizzard spells at him like mad, but he just melted them away easily with his fire. One fire attack got her in the shoulder and she cried out in pain. "Now, you can come quietly or by force, it really dosn't matter to me." Kairi didn't chhose either.... she just ran like hell! "Tsk, tsk...." Hadies murmered. "Teenagers, always doing things the hard way." He snapped his fingers and several large heartless. Kairi wasn't that good of a runner to begin with, so it wasn't much of a challenge. They grabbed her and brought her back to Hadies.

"Let me go! Let me go right now!" Kairi yelled, kicking at them and struggling against them.

Hadies smirked again. He forced her face uo to his and said in a low hiss, "You can have your time of deffiance in a bit. Right now, it's time to meet the end of your life." And they dragged her down the hallway.

_Torture Chamber_

The other villains were trying their best to wake up the keybearer, who had passed out from the loss of blood. They also had to heal his tongue, so he could actually speak. (There, are you happy, Digital?) But nothing was working.

"Come on, we can think up of plans for world domination, we can sure as hell wake up a teenager!" Hook snapped.

"Do you know what teenagers are like?" Ursula asked. "They're dead lazy. Especially those who have lost several pounds in flesh and blood." The others nodded in agreement.

"So, what do we do?" Oogie Boogie asked. "We've tried freezing cold water, lightining, fire, daggers.... what else is there to try?"

"No wonder we havn't been able to wake him up!" Hook roared. "That will just make him lose more blood! I have a better idea.... something that can torture anyone." He then pulled the Backstreet Boys from the closet (o.O), and put them next to Sora. And then, they started to sing 'Quit playing games with my heart' extremely loudly, Hook joining in.

Sora's eyes popped open in a second. "Ahhh!" He screamed. Well, more like whispered. His neck wound kept him from yelling at the top of his lungs. "Take it away! The torture! Make them stop!" Jafar, also getting annoyed by the singing, threw a fire spell at them, and blew them to smitherines. Sora gasped. "You can't hate me _that_ much..."

"Please don't do that again," Ursula said, massaging her poor ears (Serves you right, you bitch!). "You must have forgotten that that affects all of us!" Hook was quite happy, since he had come prepared with earplugs. He just grinned, and removed them from his eyes, making the others glare at him with jealousy.

"So, are you all going to get me at once now?" Sora asked. He didn't sound scared at all; just worn out and defeated. He felt so tired, just wanting to close his eyes and go to a place where he could forget all of the pain. But Sora knew what that fate was.... it was death. Not that he cared, really. He just didn't want them to see him die, not wanting them to know what they had had the honor of doing. But yet, he could still feel his life slowly ebbing away from him, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.

"No, actually, we had something else in mind." Everyone tuned to look at the door, seeing Hadies standing there, a triumphant grin on his face. His partners only smiled evilly in return, while Sora just frowned in confusion. Hadies stepped into the room, several heartless following him. But the heartless were not what surprised him; it was the girl that they had brought with them.

"KAIRI!"

_Mystic Room_

Their cages floated around in the cold, black and gray darkness, lightning flashing everynow and then. White shadows swirled around the room, moaning softly. They sometimes passed right through the humans, causing them to shiver from the extremly cold feeling it gave them.

"What is this place?" Yuffie asked, her teeth chattering. Another shadow had just passed through her. Leon desperately wanted to go and comfort her. She was not dressed in warm clothes like they were, and looked like she was going numb all over.

"Don't worry, Yuffie" King mickey said in the most cheerful voice he could muster. "We'll get out of here, one way or the other."

Riku just rolled his eyes. "Okay, we're trapped in an alternate universe surrounded by darkness and dead spirits. And you still think we'll survive? And I'm sure that they have Kairi by now, and Sora will do anything to stop us from getting hurt. He'll give in in a second." King mickey fell silent, thinking. _Riku's is right.... wow, have I ever heard those two words used in the same sentance? Well, we do seem to be in another dimension, but he brought us here when we were in the castle._

"Wait a minute, if...." he was cut off by another spirit passing through him. He opened his mouth to say what his plans were, but was cut off by another spirit. And another, and another, and another.

The others looked over at him. "Your majesty...." Donald began. But the spirits kept at him, almost as if they wanted to stop him from saying something. The mouse's breath came out in thick, white wisps as more ghosts passed through him "Hey, leave him alone!" Goofy yelled, but nothing worked. In another moment or so, the king fell limp from the cold and fainted against the bars. "King Mickey!" Donald yelled.

"What did they do that for?" Riku asked. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I know what it is," Leon said. "He wanted to tell us something, how to get out of here. But the spirits went and took him out. We're on our own now." Leon cused under his breath, and fell silent.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Riku screamed. "How the bloody hell can we save those two if we don't even know where they are?" The only response he got was another spirit whooshing through him. "What are these things, anyway?" he asked.

"The king said that all worlds have these spirit rooms," Donals told them. "When the heartless take a persons heart, this is where the rest of the soul goes."

"Gawrsh," Goofy said. ''There sure are a lot of spirits for Hollow Bastion! I wonder where they could possibly fit such a big room." His teeth began to chatter as two souls passed through him once.

"Hold on..." Yuffie began. "If these are the souls of people who have lost their hearts, then why are they attacking us? Don't they know we're the good guys?" There was a moment of silence until an idea hit Riku as fast as the bolts of lightning that rained down from the sky.

"We're giving up!" he exclaimed. They raised their eyebrows at him. "Hadies said something like 'darkness will have its way with you', and the way darkness got into my heart was when I gave up. These souls, they must sence the darkness! That's why they're coming at us, because they think we are some sort of heartless!"

"Then why did they stop King Mickey from telling us how to get out of here?" Donald asked.

Riku thought for a moment, before saying "Maybe they just thought if we were stopped from getting out, then they could spare others from the same fate as them!"_ I'm a god damn genius._

"That makes sence and all...." Donald said, "But how do we get out?"

"Maybe they can help us," Riku said, motioning his hands torwards the spirits. "Just let them know we good, don't let the darkness in."

Yuffie cleared her throat, and then shouted "Hey, spirit-ghostie-thingys! We are friends! Help us out of here!"

Donald rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, that'll really work," Donald said with much sarcasim. "Then we'll all join hands and start singing 'koom-by-ya'!"

"Do you think so?" Yuffie asked excitedly. "NO!" Everbody else shouted in unsion. She pouted.

"Alright, we're not getting anywhere!" Riku snapped. "I've got a plan." The others were desperate enough to listen to anything, even Riku. "Well, we know that since we can obviously detect Sora's heart with ours, there must be some trace of it left." The others nodded, even though they didn't completely understand it. "So all we have to do is find it inside of us, maybe it will get rid of the darkness."

"How the hell can we find a heart when we can't even see it?" Leon asked.

"You don't have to see it, silly," Yuffie said, shutting her eyes. "You have to feel it." They all shut their eyes and just sat in silence, the occasional shudder as a shadow passed through them. They thought of Sora, his goofy grin, his stubborness, his 'I can do it too' attitude. Then they all felt it. A wave of warmth, sweeping through their bodies, coming from their hearts and leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. They thought back to Destiny Islands, the sparring matches, late talks into the night, water gun wars.... Another wave of warmth spread through them, heating them up from the inside and pushing out the darkness.The shadows had stopped going through them, and were now spinning it tight circles around them, going very slowly. How they had fought and always made up, they had sliced and diced their way through countless heartless just to save their friends, never giving up.... _Sora..._ The shadows swirled around faster and faster. The coldness had completely left them and was replaced by a comforting heat.

They opened their eyes to see the lightning had stopped, and the blackness was replaced by a bright light. The shadows spun around them, and a portal opened up above them. As they drifted up, they could have sworn the shadows, as one, whispered "_Good luck.... the heroes of our time...."_

The cages had finally been lifted through the floor, revealing a dingy corridor. The bars of their prison dissolved in a mist of sparkles, allowing them to stand. Their hearts seemed to be pulling them forward.

"Alrighty then...." Yuffie said.

Riku had a determined look on his face. "He's in there," Riku said. "And now it's time to find him." They ran through the hallway, torwards a door that was seeping of darkness. _Sora, here we come._

_Torture place (Play 'Taking Me Over' by Evanescance if you have it)_

"Kairi!" Sora cried. _Oh no, she can't be here! Those god damned bastards! How dare.... when I get out of here.... I'm going to kill them! Kairi..._ "Kairi! Run! Get out of here! You have to leave! Now!"

But she was glued to the spot, seing her frined chained up and bloody. "What have they done to you?" she whispered fearfully. She could barely recognize him. If she had eaten anything during the day, she would have thrown up.

Sora turned to the torture crew. "You bastards," he hissed, "let her go!" he coughed, spitting up more blood. He was so dizzy from blood loss and horror.

"Now, now Sora, don't lose your temper," Malificent sneered. The others cackled evilly.

"You bitch!" Kairi yelled. "Let Sora go!" Everyones jaws dropped.

"Are princesess' allowed to swear?" Jafar asked. They just shrugged their shoulders.

"What do you want with Kairi?" Sora asked in a low voice, already knowing the answer.

Malifecent raised an eyebrow. "Well, since you are no longer able to obtain anymore injuries without dying, we thought we would use her as our next punching bag...." She laughed as Sora's eyes grew in fear. "Unless, you give into us. Then, maybe, we will spare her."

"Sora!'' Kairi yelled, still struggling to get away from her captors. "Don't give in! Don't let them take you!"

Oogie Boogie laughed. "It's you choice, kid," he said to Sora. "You can join us, or have your little girlfrined put through a painful death. Take your time to decide, we're in no rush." They laughed.

"Sora!"

"Kairi, I can't let you be hurt," Sora said sadly, hardly beleiving what he was going to do. Malifecent's evil grin grew.

"Yes you can! Don't worry I'll be fine!"

"I need to protect you...." Sora began.

"Well, who's it going to be?" Jafar asked. "You, or Kairi?"

"How about neither," a voice said from the doorway. They all whipped around to see.... the easter bunnny? Nah, it was Yuffie, Leon, a now awoken King Mickey., Donald, Goofy, and Riku.

"How.... how did you get out of there?" Hadies roared. "It's impossible! Darkness should have taken you!"

King Mickey smirked (can a mouse smirk? o.O). "You seem to have overlooked the fact that we don't have just one heart.... we have more inside." And they charged.

Spells and attacks went through the air, but it really wasn't a challenge; the villains were way outmatched. "Get to the celler!" Malifecent shouted. But they wer'nt making it easy for her. They kept them back from escape, wanting to kill every last one.

"Guys!" Kairi shouted. "Sora!" They looked over to see Sora hanging limply from his chains. At the moment of diversion, the enemy fled.

Everybody, those who are good anyways, rushed to Sora's side. Leon cut his chains and Sora fell, not moving. They turned him over and Sora looked into the faces of his friends one last time. "Glad you could make it," he said. He knew he was dying, eyes begging for eternal slumber.

"Sora, don't give in yet!" Kairi yelled. "Somebody, heal him!" Donald was already attempting a healing spell, but, in his panic, he was fumbling. It didn't really matter, as Sora's chest slowed down.

"Thanks," Sora whispered, "for always being there." He closed his eyes and, after all of the fighting, it had finally come to an end. His heart stopped beating, and he let out his last breath; he was dead.

_End Chapter_

Me: Done! Did you like it?

Riku: No.

Me: Well, that's too ba.... wait a second.... WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GUYS COME FROM???? I DELETED YOU!

Kairi: We're in your head, you can't delete us!

Yuffie: Yeah, and why have you suddenly let other people tell you how to write?

Leon: Get her!

Me: EEEPP!

(ties me down to a chair with chains.)

Riku: You're not going anywhere.

King Mickey: It's time to get some priorities set straight (pulls out keyblade).

Me: (gulp) This may take a while. Just review, and this is not the last chapter. must try to get away. (Stands up, with the chair still chained to her and runs).

All: GET BACK HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: READ AND REVIEW!


	7. The Realm of Trial

Me: Still in chains Welcome back!

King Mickey: Well?

Me: Well what?

King Mickey: What have we learned...?

Me: Nothing? Hits me over the head with his keyblade Alright! Alright! I'm sorry for killing Sora! It was something I had to do! Don't kill me!

Kairi: You killed Sora! is sobbing histarically.

Me: Don't worry, it will all work out.... for a while.

Riku: What's that supposed to mean?

Me: Nothing! Now let me out of these damn chains!

All: NO!!!

Me: WHY NOT?

Aerieth:You still must type!

Yuffie: And then send it to your beta reader!

Leon: You have a beta reader now?

Me: Yup!

Riku: Who?

Me: Wouldn't you like to know?

Riku: Yes. Yes I would.

Me: Too bad! Now, onto chapter 7!!!

_The Now Not a Torture Place_

"Thanks.... for always being there..."

"Sora!" Kairi yelled, "Sora, wake up! Don't close your eyes! Don't leave me! Sora!" She grabbed his torso and sobbed, as if maybe a simple hug could make it all better.

"No..." Riku said softly, his head down. A single tear ran down his cheek. He didn't care if anybody saw. _No.... Sora! God damn it, how could he die on us? He's my best friend, friends don't do this. Please, let this all be a nightmare! The last thing I said to him was to stop being a baby.... he just can't leave. He had so much to live for...... we were going to go to other worlds together... Sora?Damn them.... damn them all! When I get my hands on Malifecent, she'll wish she had never been brought to this world... ever!_

Yuffie was crying on Leon's shoulder while Leon tried to hold back a few tears that were stinging at the tips of his eyes. Donald seemed to be going insane as he was muttering to himself and Goofy was bawling.

Riku glared at Donald and snapped, "You could have healed him! Why didn't you? You could have saved him! Now he's dead! He's gone! Maybe if you could have worked a simple little spell, he would still be here now!"

Donald winced at these words and looked down, ashamed at himself and thick, pearly tears dribbling down his beak. Yuffie looked up from Leon's shoulder and leered at Riku. "Well, Mr. Big and Strong," she snapped, "We wouldn't be in any of this mess if it wern't for you! It's you fault Sora was here at all! Because of your stupid selfishness, they took Sora. If this is anybodys fault, it's yours!"

Kairi wiped her eyes. "Come on you guys, Sora wouldn't want us to be fighting like this."

"What would you know about it?" Leon roared, making Kairi jump. "You can barely hold up a staff, let alone decide what's best!"

"Leave her alone you asshole!" Riku hollered. "It's not like you ever do anything but cause more touble!"

They continued to argue, going unnoticed by the king. King Mickey choked back a few sobs and fumbled through his pockets, looking for something. A moment later, he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a large, shiny ruby that was perfectly ovaled and was rimmed in a thick plate of gold. Around the outside was script that no one could really understand. He held it above his heart. and started to mutter an incantation, "_Menti, Kentali, Middi, Heshki, Yanti, Linna, Linna, Linna, Linna, Linna, Come to us Linna,"_

By now, everyone had noticed the king's chanting and stopped fighting. "What is he doing?" Yuffie asked.

Donald blinked once, and then it hit him. "Linna," he whispered. "He's calling Linna..."

Kairi asked "Who's Linna?"

"That's Linna," Goofy said, pointing to the ceiling. But it wasn't really a ceiling anymore. It had turned bright blue with a bit of white mist swirling around. A large group of golden glitter was slowly coming down from the newly arranged ceiling. The light burst through every nook and cranny of the hallway. The golden mist hovered lower to the ground and began to form a shape. There stood a tall, elegant women with flowing blond hair and white wings. She had golden eyes that always seemed to be happy, but not now. Now, they showed sadness beyond all beleif as she looked at the fallen keybearer.

"Linna," King Michey began, "we need your help.''

The woman named Linna smiled softly. "That," she said, "is obvious." Her voice sounded like a whistle and chimes, with a bit of husk. It was beautiful.

"You know who he is...." Mickey went on. "You know that he is more then just the keybearer, right?"

Linna sighed softly. "Yes, I do." She knelt down by Sora and gently pulled Kairi to her feet. "All will be well, my darling," she whispered in a motherly way, wiping away her tears. Linna kneeled beside the keybearer again, and placed her hand over his heart. "He has not yet lost his heart, but there is still nothing I can do for him. His body is damaged beyond all repair."

"I know that," Mickey said with impatience, something you rarely heard in the mouse's voice. "But what of the Realm of Trial?"

Linna's face turned stony. ''Menti will not like this," she informed him. "You know how she feels about these special cases."

"I know, I know," King Mickey pleaded. "It's the only way to get him back. And it is of far more greater importance then the anger of Menti. We can handle her, but what we cannot handle is the loss of...." he stopped. Everyone's faces were turned down in sadness, and the King allowed only but a single tear trail down his face.

Linna smiled at him and placed a smooth hand over his shoulder. "Alright," she said. "I will do my best. But do not get your hopes up, for it may be more difficult then it seems. And I cannot tell them who he is destined to be to support his case, either. That would be considered injustice of the ruling.''

"Okay, I guess it's the only chance we've got," King Mickey said. "Give it your best, Linna. I trust you." Linna smiled happily and walked over to the keyblade master.

She put a cool hand over his forehead and Sora's body evaporated into a thin smoke. Kairi gasped and Riku just stood there in awe. _What the hell is going on here?_ Linna cupped her hands together and the mist gathered into her hands. She took a clear sphere from her robes and poured the mist inside. "A spirit jar," she explained to the questioning looks she got form Sora's friends. "It will keep his spirit from getting lost on our way up."

"Wait, what's going on here?" Kairi cried. "Is Sora coming back or not?"

"All will be clear soon," Linna said, tucking the sphere safely in her pocket. She turned to Mickey. "I will leave it to you to tell them." King Mickey nodded solemnly and watched as Linna desolved into gold glitter agin and dissapeared though the blue. The light faded and the ceiling was back again.

Riku turned angrily to King Mickey, drawing out his blade. "You have ten seconds to start explaining...."

_The Realm of Trial_

Linna's glittery form traveled up through Hollow Bastion, and up even further. Soon, the palace was nothing but a dot in the sky, and getting smaller still. She passed through clouds and closer to the sun, light growing brighter and brighter until they reached a cloud like dome that she went through easily. When she appeared out of the floor to the dome, she resumed her regular form.

A clerk looked up at her. He was a man with dark brown hair that had small down feathers along his hairline. His eyes were deep chesnut brown that matched his eagle-like wings perfectly. He was scribbling something in a book when Linna had come and now he just watched her as she came up to the desk.

"Ozen" Linna said, "I'm here to bring someone for a trial."

The man named Ozen just raised an eyebrow at her. "Menti will not like that. What stray have you brought here for life this time?''

Linna ignored her boyfriend's remarks and dug out the glass sphere that she had hidden away. "Him," she said with a smile.

Ozen just shrugged at his insane girlfriend, not knowing who's spirit it was. He rummaged through the desk drawer and pulled out a thin, white rod with tints of blue in it. He tapped the wand onto the top of the globe and purple magma spread over Sora's sphere, and then glowed. It glowed until it turned a bright blow and the sphere cracked open and the mist spread out and formed the shape of a human body.

Ozen gazed on in amazement as the shape slowly became more detailed, showing Sora. But he was in different clothes this time. Those weird pants of his had turned into dark navy blue, and his jacket red and black. A white shirt lay under it. His crown necklace was still there, and there were now chains and buckles strayed every here and there. His clothes showed a well muscled body (drool). His hair was still defying the laws of physics, and his eyes still that blue shade. Another difference was that all of his cuts, breaks, bruises, and other wounds, were gone. The only thing left were scars, the largest one under his chin. It gave him a prisoner-of-war look (Is still drooling over computer).

"Oh no..." Ozen said, shaking his head as he watched Sora look curiously around the room. "Linna, please tell me that isn't who I think it is. Please prove me wrong and let me keep my sanity."

"Where am I?" Sora asked. "Where's Kairi, Riku and the others? Am I dead?"

"So many questions!" Linna exclaimed, her eyes glittering with mirth. "You can have them answered in a moment. Now, I need to make arrangments for your trial."

Sora looked at her wearily. "What did I do this time?" Linna giggled and Sora rolled his eyes. _Girls.... wait a minute.... what am I doing here? I'm fucking dead!_ He then noticed the intent staring he was gettting from the man. "Can I help you?"

Ozen shook his head as if to clear away his stupidity. "Are you Sora?" Sora just nodded, and watched as the man turned to glare at Linna. "Why is he here? He shouldn't be dead!"

Linna looked at him solemnly. "That is why he is here," she pointed out. "If we are lucky, then maybe they will allow him to go back."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked eagerly. "Am I going to go back to life? Am I not dead after all?"

"Oh, you are dead," Linna said, chuckling as she saw Sora's face fall. "You are dead as a rock. But, if you are passed by the Realm of Trial, then you will be granted life again to fullfill your destiny."

Sora was about to ask what the hell is destiny actually was besides getting tortured when the man cleared his throat. "Well, Sora, I am Ozen, the secratary of the Realm of Trial." He held out his hand and shook Sora's. "I keep track of who dies, whether or not they go to trial ,and if anyone is cheating death, as your foes are trying so desperately to do."

Sora laughed, and surprised himself. It seemed to him that he hadn't laughed in ages. He remembered what he had been through. _I've never been in so much pain in my life.... how can they be so heartless? Well, then again, they are the leaders of the Heratless. But that was cruel, even by their standards. That will live with me for the rest of my life.... if I have one after this trial thing. Kairi, I never got to tell her how much I loved her. Yes, I love her. Riku, we were fighting the last time I saw her. I never got to tell Goofy and Donald how they were such good friends, whether or not I gained back my old ones...... I miss them so much, I may never see them again.... ever.... _

Silent tears fell down Sora's cheeks and Linna's eyes were marked with sympathy. "Do not worry," she said quietly. "Your heart is strong, and it can even survive this. Do not dwell on the past, it will get you nowhere. But you must not forget it. Learn from it. Those memories will give you strength that you never knew you had. That, and the fact that your friends will always be there with you. Just remember what you go on for, and that will be the downfall of evil. And of this trial. You can do it. No one doubts you."

Sora grinned weakly at her and wiped away his tears with the back of his sleeve. "Okay then, I'm ready," he said.

Ozen grinned. "Excellent! Now, the trial will be different then the ones you have learned of. This will be of five parts. There will be twenty council members, and they will do the side voting. But you don't really need to worry about them..... there are only five that you need to pay special attention to. They are Yanti, Mistress of Courage, Middi, Mistress of Trust, Heshki, Mistress of Love, and Kentai, Mistressof Friendship. The last one is the leader of the counse. She is Menti, Mistress of Strength. She is extremely strict and answers only to the King. She will not be easy on you, and she hates special cases. Be careful, she is full of tricks."

"But how does this trial thing work?" Sora asked, his head reeling from the impact of all of this new knowledge. "I know who makes up the council, but what do they do? And if you say they torture me and see how long it takes until I scream, I swear I will kill you all."

Linna grinned mysteriously. "You shall see in time. All in time. We will wait and pray for you." A door at the end of the room slowly opened.

"Good luck!" Ozen said. "You'll need it!" Linna smacked his arm, and Ozen said, "I'm just trying to lighten up the mood! I'm sure you'll do fine, Sora."

Sora nodded, his face set. He turned around and walked to the door. He stopped there and looked back. Ozen and Linna waved encouragly at him, and Sora stepped through the door.

_Hollow Bastion_

"You have ten seconds to start explaining."

Mickey gulped as he eyed the end of the blade nervously. He didn't doubt Riku's wrath for a second. But what really scared him was the fact that everybody else looked close to doing the exact same thing, even Kairi. "If you put down the sword, maybe I'll tell you." Riku glared at him for a moment, but put down his blade. "Now then, that was a friend of mine, Linna. She works at a place called the Realm of Trial. She had just taken Sora's spirit there, where he will be put on trial. If he is passed, then he will come back to life.

"You mean...." Kairi said, "Sora's not dead after all?"

"Oh no, Sora's as dead as a rock." This made them glare at their king. "But if he passes the five tests they give him, they'll bring him back to life."

"What are the five tests?" Yuffie asked. "If they're physical challenge tests, Sora will be back here in five minutes."

Mickey just shook is head at the over-eager ninja. "I don't know exactly what the five tests are, but I know it isn't physical stuff."

"Mental torture?" Riku suggested.

"Barney videos?" Donald asked. Everybody shuddered.

"No, Donald, that is real torture," King Mickey said. ''It's not mental torture, either. I have no idea what is in these tests, all I know is that the leader of the council, Menti, is very strict and mean. Sora will have one long time getting past her."

There was silence for several minutes, everyone secretly thinking of whether or not Sora could pass the trial.

After a while, Kairi spoke up. "Well, what do we do now."

"There's nothing much that we can do except wait," Leon grunted. "Staying here won't help any."

"He's right," King Mickey said. "We might as well go back to the castle and wait." They began to trail out of the dingy corridor, following the scent of fresh air.

When they got out, Riku asked a question that had been nagging at him. "What about Malifecent and the others?" he asked.

Mickey sighed. "It's worthless to try and fight without Sora. We need the power of his keyblade. All we can do now is send out some troops to get rid of as many heartless as possible."

They had reached the now repaired gummi ship and climbed inside. Everyone sat down and buckled up as the ship revved into life. They then sped out of there like a bat out of hell.

They sped along a track unfamiliar to everyone but Mickey, Donald and Goofy. For a while, they drove in silence. Then Riku, turning to face Donald, said, "Sorry about back there."

Donald was amazed. Never had he heard Riku be the first one to apologize. "It's fine,'' Donald murmerd. After a nudge from Yuffie, Leon apologized to Kairi.

Kairi forgave him, but she wasn't really _there_. She was off in her own little world, the world with just her and Sora back on Destiny Islands. Damn, she missed him so much.

An hour or so later, they reached Disney Castle and landed neatly in the fields. Everyone hopped out and was greeted by Merlin. "What happened?" he asked urgently. "Where's Sora?"

Kairi began to cry again and everyone elso looked grave. It was then that Merlin realized what happened. "I am so sorry," he said. "I guess my advice just wasn't good enough."

"Sora still has a chance," King Mickey said. "He's at the Realm of Trial right now. I asked it as a favor from Linna."

"The Realm of Trial?" Merlin asked. "With Menti?"

"Yes, he is going in right now," a kind voice said. They all whipped around to see linna standing there.

"Where is Sora? Did he pass?'' Kairi asked. Linna laughed and Kairi scowled.

"Patience, Princess of Heart," she said. "We will see in a while. I just came to tell you that he has been delivered safely."

Riku sighed. "I hate suspence."

_Realm of Trial_

Sora was blinded for a moment when he walked in. The light was incredible! He blinked for a moment and the intensity of brightness dimmed. He could see a large circular room and the back half of the circle was something like a very high, curved bench. There was a golden seat in the middle of the bench, two silver seats on each side of that, and ten maroon chairs on each side of the double set of silver chairs. In the very center of the room was a chair.

Sora looked around nervously. A loud voice boomed, "Sit down!" Sora walked hurridely to the chair and sat down, glancing nervously up at the five centered chairs.

"So, another wothless case sent by the great Linna," the middle woman boomed. She had a pointy face and looked very angry. Sora bit his tongue to keep from insulting the woman. He quickly remembered the recent damage on his tonque, and let go.

"Oh come on, Menti," a girlish voice said. It was a cute, young girl sitting to the left of Menti. "This is a cute one!"

Sora raised an eyebrow and said something that even shocked himself. "Sorry, but I'm taken."

The girl pouted." How come the cute one's are always taken?"

Menti cleared her throat loudly. "This is not a bachelor's party! We are here to decide whether this foolish human is to go back to the living or not!" she snapped.

"I higly doubt whether he is worthless _or _foolish," the women next to the pouting one said. "He is of good heart, and full of courage."

The girl to the right of Menti piped up, "He has many friends scattered all over the worlds, he must have done some serious good!"

The one next to her said, "He has been granted the power of the keyblade, he must be very trustworthy and honest!"

"In case you haven't noticed, there are plenty of people like that but we just don't waltz up to them and give them back life!" Menti snapped. Sora was silent the whole time. He could tell who each of them were by the way they talked about him, and he was beginning to think that this was going to be easier then he thought.

"What we need to do is to see if he is worthy," Middi said.

"We will put him through the five tests and see if he passes." Kentali told the rest.

Heshki sighed. "Are we going to do the three strike thing again?"

"Yes, this is no different from any other case!" Menti snapped.

"What do I have to do?" Sora asked.

Menti smirked. "It's not what you have to _do_, it's what you have _done_,''

"I'm so glad you made that nice and clear," Sora said with sarcasim, rolling his eyes. "It would be really annoying if you were being stupidly vague."

Heshki sniggered as Menti's face turned red. "Enough of this!" she roared. "You have three strikes. If you fail to prove yourself in a test, that will be one strike. Three strikes and you're out. And just because you really piss me off, you have one strike already." Sora's mouth fell open; his whole view of this ordeal was changing very fast. "We will look into your past and look at your most proven examples of Courage, Trust, Love, Friendship, and Strength."

Sora smirked. "No problem, I've done plenty of that stuff in the past two years."

Menti laughed evilly. "We know that. But that was when you had the power of the keyblade with you! We will be looking into the time before you had the keyblade! Before any of that heroic crap."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sora declared. This was more unfair then being chained to a wall and being tortured. Well, almost as unfair. Not quite there yet.

"Let the first test begin!" Menti shouted, ignoring Sora.

Yanti stood up, smiling. "Courage is to be without fear in grave situations. We will see if you possess this gift." She snapped her fingers, and there was a blinding light, and Sora saw what he had hoped he would never have to see again.

_End Chapter_

Me: Did you like it?

Riku: Damn, that was confusing!

Me: He he.

Sora: That Menti lady is a bitch!

Kairi: And if that Heshki girl tries to flirt with Sora again, I'll wring her throat!

Me: Alrighty then. Well, read and review please!


	8. Full of Courage

Me: WWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Sora: (Jumps three feet into the air) What the hell?  
  
Me: I hit the forty review mark! SSSQQQQQQQQQQUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
All: YAY!  
  
Me: Even though the last reviewer threatened to send her boyfriend after me if I didn't update, I still feel special! And thank you so much to ElegantArrow 64, Digitaldreamer, and M.D. Sora for all of your help! (teardrop)  
  
Kairi: I still haven't forgiven you for killing Sora.  
  
Me: Whatever. (Is chewing on something)  
  
Leon: What are you eating?  
  
Me: Cinnamon gum.  
  
Riku and Sora: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! THE BURN! (runs in fear)  
  
All: o.0  
  
Me: Yeah, a certain evil somebody took advantage of my simple-mindedness and tricked me into licking the wrapper and sticking it to me forehead.... (Looks at Digital)  
  
Digitaldreamer: (Is whistling innocently and avoiding KairiQueen's glare, speaks in obviously fake accent) What eez dis "cinno-man goom" zat joo speek ofs?  
  
Me: (twitch) Well, this is a bit of a confusing chapter, so I'll give you a full explanation at the end. ENJOY!  
_  
Realm of Trial_  
  
Sora blinked a few times as the bright light invaded through his eyelids, blinding him with its merciless glare. He held them tightly shut before the light faded into a soft glow. He opened them and saw a sight that he had hoped he would never see again. He gasped as he took note of where he was standing..... though you wouldn't really call it standing. He was hovering in mid-air, and to his sides were the five main trial women, Yanti standing in the middle.  
  
"Now we shall see,'' Yanti whispered, and the five watched as the scene passed before them.  
  
The Scene That They Are Watching  
  
A nine-year-old Sora walked down with his friend, Wakka. The path they walked upon was jagged along a steep cliff, along some sort of wide split that had come across one of the islands. The only way across was an old, beat up bridge with rotting boards and weakened ropes; the bridge had not been used for years.  
  
Wakka sighed and stopped for a moment and looked at the bridge that they had just reached. Sora blinking, stopping too and looking at Wakka "What's wrong?"  
  
Wakka just shook his head. "It's nothing; I just wish that this old thing was still usable..... it would cut our travel time in half and we could stay here longer without leaving early."  
  
Sora peered at the bridge. "It doesn't look like it can't be used anymore to me."  
  
Wakka laughed. "Yeah right! You could never get across that bridge!"  
  
Sora pouted. "I can too!"  
  
Wakka just rolled his eyes and smirked. "I bet you that you would never make it across there without falling down into the water." Sora looked thoughtful  
for a moment and Wakka chuckled. "Come on, we're meeting Riku at the hut. Move it!"  
  
Wakka moved a few yards before he realized that Sora was not with him. "What are you do...." But Wakka stopped in mid-sentence as his jaw dropped a good foot and his eyes grew to twice their size; there was Sora, moving slowly across the bridge that swayed dangerously with each step he took. The rotten boards creaked and were slippery with green moss. Sora was already about a-third of the way there, and he held his hands out for balance; there were strong winds today.  
  
"Sora!" Wakka screamed, "Get down from there!"  
  
"Why should I?" Sora teased.  
  
"Because, if you die, then I die!" Wakka yelled.  
  
Sora turned his head back to look at him, but kept on walking. "Why?"  
  
Wakka groaned. "Because, if you die, then Riku will hunt me down and kill me. Then, he'll bring me back to life to kill me again. Then, he'll teach Kairi to fight so he can bring me back to life so Kairi can kill me! Then, he'll bring me back to life so he can kill me again!"  
  
Sora rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He had now reached the half-way point on the bridge and was about to step on an extremely rickety board. Wakka saw it and shouted "No, don't step on that board!"  
  
Too late. Sora had already put his weight on it and the board snapped in half, sending the board flying into the water below, splashing next to some razor sharp rocks that covered the bottom of the river. If Sora were to fall on these, he would be shredded to bits. The boy gave a small gasp and backed up, his foot falling upon the thin left rope of the bridge.. The pickets that held the bridge to the ground tore out, sending the entire left side of the bridge, boards and all, into the water. Sora flailed his arms, and struggled to keep his balance. Eventually, both feet came to rest on the single rope, which could snap at any moment.  
  
"Ahhhhh!" Wakka cried. "Lean forward! Too much forward! Back a little.... just a bit more....."  
  
Sora held his arms out and kept his balance, praying that the rope would hold long enough for him to inch back to Wakka. "Sora.... don't move a muscle," Wakka said very slowly. Sora took a deep breath in an attempt to keep his knees from shaking.  
  
"Okay... now listen." Wakka said. "You're gonna have to come back here very slowly or the rope will snap."  
  
Sora was just about to move when something caught his eyes..... a certain silver-haired something....  
  
Rikus eyes narrowed as he took in the sight before him. "Wakka...." he said in a dangerous voice."Please tell me that Sora is not stuck up there."  
  
"Who, me? Nah couldn't be!" Sora said with sarcasm, an edge of fear in his voice. "I'm just practicing for my flourishing carrier as an acrobat; I can get you some free tickets to my show if you want!"  
  
Riku glared at Wakka. "I'm going to kill you, bring you back to life, and then kill you again!" Wakka gulped nervously.  
  
Sora yelled at them, "Riku, can you kill him later?!? I need some help over here!"  
  
"Oh, yeah...." Riku said. He looked at the rickety rope that Sora stood on; it was going to break. Then, a strong gust of wind came flying right in Sora's face, making his body fall off balance. "SORA!" Riku and Wakka cried out.  
  
As Sora fell backwards, he hooked his feet onto the rope. His body dropped vertically, his feet still attached to the rope. Sora had never been more afraid in his life, wide eyes staring at a knife-sharp rocks now pointing at him, some ways down. Falling would send him right into the rocks. Gulping, Sora scrunched up his legs enough so that he could reach the ropes with his hands. He grasped it and pulled himself up, and then stood back up. Riku and Wakka let out the breath that they had been holding in for a while.  
  
"You're going to give me a heart attack, and I'm only ten!" Riku yelled at his stupid, spike-headed friend.

"How the hell do we get him down?" Wakka asked.  
  
Riku and Sora gaped at him. "Ooooooohhhhhhhhhh....." Sora said, "Selphie will kill you for swearing!"  
  
"Yeah, well she'll have to get in line," Riku growled, massaging his knuckles.  
  
Another round of wind blew, causing for the rope to once again sway in the wind. And although Sora did not fall of this time, more strands of the feeble rope snapped.  
  
"Okay, okay, no more messing around!" Riku snapped. "Sora, try to get back over here!"  
  
Slowly, Sora began to inch towards his friends, but this just caused more of the weak points on the rope to snap a bit more. "It's no use!" Sora yelled. "I can't get over to you without falling!"  
  
Riku and Wakka started fighting over different ways to get their friend back to them, but every second of time was precious and they were losing a lot of it. Sora's eyes scanned around the crack, looking for something, anything, that could help. His eyes fell on a flat ridge that stuck out of the cliff. If he jumped, he might make it. But then again, he might not.  
  
_Darn it, what it I don't make it? Fear won't get me anywhere, though. Just a bit of courage might get me there..... just believe it.  
_  
Sora squatted down, eyes fixed on the ledge. This was something that Riku and Wakka were quick to notice. "Uhhhh, Sora? What are you doing?" Riku asked nervously.  
  
Wakku spotted what Sora was looking at. "No, Sora, don't!"  
  
Riku saw it too. "Sora, don't you dare jump! You can't make it!"  
  
But, once again, it was too late. Sora held down his fear with an iron fist and jumped with as much strength as possible. He stuck his hands out, as if he were flying. He closed his eyes and felt the cool, crisp air stream through his hair. The whole world seemed to hold it'd breath and the jump seemed to last for eternity. Sora opened his eyes and gasped..... he wasn't going to make it! Sora clenched his jaws and flung his arms out further, trying his hardest to make it.  
  
After what seemed like forever, Sora finally managed to cling to the side of the ledge. He struggled up and fell back onto the wonderfully solid ground, panting. _I did it.... I DID IT!_ Sora was brought back to his senses when he heard relieved laughter from above him. He looked up to see Riku and Wakku, each grinning and waving for him to come up. Sora grinned and started to climb...  
_  
Realm of Trial_  
  
There was another flash of light and Sora found himself sitting back in the chair at the Realm of Trial. Everyone around him was talking about what they had just seen. Sora was extremely confused, his head spinning. While he watched the incident, he noticed that at certain points his body seemed to glow from the inside. He remembered those times very well, and knew that those were the times when he had the most courage.  
  
"Order, order!" Menti yelled over the noise. Everyone fell silent and looked at her. She smirked and said "It is now time to decide whether or not he has passed the Test of Courage."

Yanti stood up and spoke. "I believe that Sora has indeed passed the Test of Courage. It is left to the Court to decide otherwise."  
  
Menti stood. "I do not believe that he has filled the expectations."  
  
A man stood up from his seat and boomed, "I wish to know how he did not. I think it took a great deal of courage to swallow enough fear to make it across."  
  
Menti cleared her throat. "So what? He had a lucky jump! Big deal."  
  
"It is a big deal," another court member said. "If he had been afraid and with no courage, he would have fallen."  
  
"We shall clear this in short term," Yanti said. "All that believe Sora has passed the test, raise your hand." Twenty three people raised their hands. "All in favor of a strike?" Menti and one other raised their hands. Yenti smirked. "Majority rules, Sora has passed the Test of Courage."  
  
"Yes!" Sora cried triumphantly, punching the air with his fist.  
  
Yanti smiled at him and sat down. Another woman stood up, her looks representing the fact that she was Japanese. "I am Middi," she said clearly to Sora. "I am the Mistress of Trust. Trust is to believe in others in grave situations, and to put other worries aside and let your fate rest in another's hands. We will see if you have the power to trust...."  
  
_Disney Castle_  
  
Everybody was sitting in a large room with fluffy sofas, colored a rich red. They were all silent and, at the moment, sipping hot chocolate. Kairi was trying not to cry again, and she was winning; for the moment. They just stared at the floor. Goofy was asleep, snoring gently. Yuffie was drifting off to sleep as well, her head resting upon Leon's chest as he gently stroked her hair. Riku had his head in his hands and Aerith was sitting with a sad look on her face. Donald was talking with Queen Minnie and Daisy, filling them in on the present situation. King Mickey was taking to the Magician. Linna had left earlier to go check up on Sora.  
  
King Mickey came back into the room, and everyone looked up at him.  
  
"Well, we've got a lot more bad news," he said. "The heartless are here, and they're terrorizing' the worlds again."  
  
"Do we still need to shut the second door to the darkness?" Aerith asked.  
  
King Mickey nodded. "I'm afraid so. But we can't close it without Sora, so it's useless without him."  
  
"So now we have to wait?" Riku asked, seemingly slightly bewildered.  
  
"I'm afraid so," Mickey said sadly.  
  
Leon gave a frustrated hiss of breath. "Damnit...." He snarled through clenched teeth. "It's like everything is falling apart and there's nothing we can do! All we can do is wait for Sora to come back!"  
  
They were silent. Nobody spoke for a while. The silence engulfing them like a thick cloud, suffocating them.  
  
Donald walked in, grinning. "I just talked with the generals, our troops our off to protect as many worlds as they can."  
  
"That's good," Goofy said quietly. He felt like he had to say something, him being the head knight. No one spoke again, and King Mickey finally said "Well, we'd best turn in. Nothing else we can do now." Everybody filed out of the room, except for Kairi. She just sat there, lost in her own world.  
  
Yuffie saw this and walked over to Kairi, sitting beside her, wrapping her arm around the younger girls shoulders. "Hey, don't worry," Yuffie said soothingly. "It'll all be okay."

Kairi shook her head. "But what if it's not? What if I never see Sora again?" She began to cry.  
  
Yuffie hugged Kairi tight. Then she smiled. "You love him, don't you?"  
  
Kairi blushed slightly and said "I guess,"  
  
Yuffie giggled. "Then if he really loves you back, he'll be back before you know it!"  
  
Kairi grinned and wiped away her tears. "Thanks Yuffie. Maybe there will be a 'happily ever after' after all..."  
  
_Done_  
  
Me: Done!  
  
Riku: I'm still confused.  
  
Me: Here's the deal. They look at different moments in Sora's past that represent Courage, Trust, Love, Friendship, and Strength. They watch the memory, like Harry Potter does in the pensive, and he glows every time he shows one of those elements. Then, the court decides whether or not he proved himself.  
  
Sora: Oh joy.  
  
Kairi: What's the next Test?  
  
Me: Trust!  
  
Digitaldreamer:.....and for those of you observant people, she mentioned this at the end of the first trial.  
  
Donald: This will be interesting.....  
  
Goofy: Yup!  
  
Donald: Oh shut up you big palooka.  
  
Me: No making fun of Goofy!  
  
King Mickey: Yeah!  
  
Me: Errrrrr..... Yeah, sorry about this being so short! Review anyway, reviews make longer chapters!  
  
Digitaldreamer: Which makes more work for me, which means I get to be a mean ol' flame- I mean, Beta reader, yes.......stop reading this and go review... 

Me:...... here we go.....

(by the way Digitaldreamer wrote all of the stuff that she said in the author notes, not me! She is evil! EVIL! Hehe, just kidding. she's nice.)


	9. To Trust

Me: Okay, I've been listening to the Evanescence CD over and over again to get me in the writing mood, so here I am..... writing.  
  
Sora: You just posted chapter 8 yesterday!  
  
Me: And I plan on finishing this chapter TODAY! I don't want to ever fall out of the writing spirit, and I was just given a great idea for the Test of Trust.  
  
Kairi: What, you didn't know before?  
  
Me: Nope.  
  
Riku: (slaps forehead)  
  
Digitaldreamer: At least at this rate her test chapters won't take an entire school year to type like Broken Rainbow's did.  
  
King Mickey: It's her story; let her write it the way she wants.  
  
Menti: I agree with the King.  
  
Me: (eyeroll) That's because the only person you respect is the King!  
  
Menti: (Smirk) Yeah, pretty much.  
  
Yuffie: Hey, it's that bitch who never should have been made leader in the first place!  
  
All: (grabs weapons) ATTACK!  
  
Menti: EEEP! bitch, run...bwa ha ha ha...  
  
Me: Well, on with the chapter. And once again, I'm sorry for it being so short! Hmmm..... maybe I'll put two Tests in this one.... nah, that'd be too  
easy! Enjoy the chapter!  
  
Realm of Trust --- Test of Trust  
  
Sora sighed, not wanting to open his eyes to see what was in store for him this time. But curiosity got the better of him and he looked down with the  
membils of the Council.

_The Scene They're Watching_  
  
Sora, eleven years old at the time, stormed down the island, very angry at the moment. Kairi said that it was a stage that Riku was going through, but Sora was beginning to think it would go on forever.  
  
For the past few weeks, Riku had been practical joking Sora like crazy. Somehow, Riku always managed to trick Sora to go here or there and then Sora would have to suffer through getting icy cold water dumped on his head, honey poured over him, stepping on a rake and sending the pole flying into his head, and the list went on. At first, Sora thought it was a bit funny, but then it just got downright annoying.  
  
Sora had tried to talk to Riku, but he would just turn away and get him with a water gun or something. Sora had finally just ran away when Riku asked him to help him find his cat in the forest; Riku didn't _have_ a cat.  
  
Now Sora just walked down the sandy shore line, kicking up sand as he went and sending small fiddler crabs scurrying for the crazy-boy-free ocean. If he can't cut it out, _I guess we're not friends anymore,_ Sora fumed.  
  
_Meanwhile....._  
  
"You're being really immature, you know that?" Kairi said.  
  
Riku looked up at her. They were walking along the path that lead around the edge of the cliff, the same cliff that almost sent Sora down into the rock-filled river. Kairi had asked Riku to walk with her, and now he knew why.  
  
"Well?" Kairi prodded. Riku just shrugged and Kairi stared at him. "Why have you been doing all those things to Sora? It's really bugging him..... and me too."  
  
Riku looked at the ground, not knowing an answer. "I don't know," he said softly. (Plot hole? What plot hole?) "It's just; a lot has been going on lately."  
  
Kairi frowned. "That's no reason to take it out on Sora."  
  
"I thought he could take it," Riku said. "I mean, I had to do something to take my energy out on, and everyone else would never talk to me again if I did it to them But Sora is my best friend, I didn't think he would get so mad."  
  
"So the only reason you're taking it out on Sora is because he's your best friend?" Kairi asked, eyebrow raised.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," Riku said. "Does that make any sense at all?"  
  
Kairi smiled "Sort of. I remember somebody telling me that out of love comes hatred; one can't exist without the other. I guess it's the same with you and Sora."  
  
Riku nodded. "Do you think Sora will understand?"  
  
Kairi giggled. "You may have to explain it a bit simpler to him, but I'm sure he'll forgive you!"  
  
Riku laughed. "Thanks Kairi," he said as they continued to walk,  
  
"Heh, no prob-" But she was cut off as she tripped over a root that grew near the large cliff. She cried out in surprise as she was sent over the ledge.  
  
"KAIRI!" Riku yelled, making a grab for her. But he missed, and she went tumbling over. "NO KAIRI!" He rushed over and squatted down on his knees, looking down into the river, white swirling water rushing over the jagged rocks. "Kairi....'' he said softly, eyes filling with tears.  
  
"RIKU!" a voice yelled. Riku looked down once more, this time at a more vertical angle, and saw Kairi hanging off of a rock that stuck out. "Help!" she yelled.  
  
"Don't worry Kairi, I'll get you!" Riku yelled. He looked frantically around for some hand-holds he could use to climb down to her, but found none. "Be right back!" Riku yelled. He ran into the forest and found the longest vine he could. He tugged it out and ran back to the cliff. He lowered down the vine and yelled "Grab the vine!"  
  
"I can't!" Kairi screamed. "If I let go, I'll fall!"  
  
Riku groaned; he had run out of ideas. _What now? I need help...... I've got it! If I get somebody, I can lower them down on the vine so they can get Kairi! _"Just hold on, I'm going to go get some help!" Riku yelled down.  
  
"Hurry!" Kairi cried. And Riku darted off.  
  
_The Beach_  
  
Sora was planning on ways of getting back at Riku when he heard frantic footsteps behind him and he whipped around. Riku ran up to him, panting. "Oh, it's just you," Sora snapped, turning back around and walking away.  
  
"No, Sora, wait!" Riku yelled. But Sora did not stop.  
  
"Why should I this time, huh?" Sora called over his shoulders. "To lead me into another trap? I don't think so."  
  
"No, Sora, I'm serious!" Riku said, fighting to catch his breath and catch up with Sora at the same time. "It's Kairi! She's in trouble! She's dangling off a cliff! If we don't help her soon, she's gone!"  
  
Sora paused for a minute at the sound of Kairi's name, but then continued his fast pace. "Yeah right, like I'll fall for that one, you jerk. Where do you get this stuff from, anyway? Is it some secret book I don't know about called _'Ways to Trick Your Friend'_?''  
  
Riku came to a halt. _Man, he's right. I really have been a jerk. I wouldn't be surprised if he never listened to me again. But I've got to try._ "I'm sorry."  
  
At this, Sora stopped and turned around. "What was that?"  
  
"I said I'm sorry," Riku said. "I'm sorry for taking out my anger on you. With every friendship comes hatred, you can't have one without the other. I just really, really wish I could have told you this earlier. Maybe it would have stopped you from being so angry and would have given me some new ways to blow off stem. But Kairi really is in trouble, and we do need to save her. Please, just trust me. You're still my best friend, and I hope I'm still yours. Trust me."  
  
Sora stared at Riku for a moment. "I.." he began, not finding the right words; he had never heard Riku apologize to him. "I forgive you. And I trust you. Where's Kairi?"  
  
Riku grinned. "Thanks," he said. "Come on, follow me."  
  
_The Cliff_  
  
Kairi could feel the sweat on her hands start to loosen her grip. She wouldn't last much longer..... _Where did he go? _she thought desperately. Then she heard footsteps of two people.  
  
"Kairi!" Sora yelled, the spike-head sticking his face over the cliff and into her view. "Don't worry, we'll get you! Just hang on!"  
  
"Sora!'' she cried. "Riku! I'm gonna fall soon, hurry!"  
  
Riku picked up the vine that he had left there and tied it around Sora's waist. "Alright, I'm going to lower you down there," Riku ordered. "You hold onto Kairi and I'll pull you both up, okay?"  
  
"Are you sure you can hold both of our weights?" Sora asked apprehensively.  
  
"Don't worry, I can. Just trust me."  
  
Sora nodded, although he still wasn't completely sure. But still, this was no time to doubt his friend. He knew that Riku would never let him fall. He was about to climb down when he felt it.  
  
Another gust of wind blew; they had discovered a while back that the wind blew a lot down on this end of the island. Kairi screamed and her grasp broke.  
  
"Kairi!" Sora cried again. He didn't even have to think..... all he could do was watch her fall in slow motion.... and he dove. He jumped off of the ledge and, as she fell, grabbed her wrists.  
  
Riku's eyes widened and he too jumped off, grabbing for Sora's ankles.  
  
A moment later, the results had shown themselves. Sora held onto Kairi's hands with his as he dangled upside down. Riku had somehow managed to grasp Sora's left ankle with one hand and a rocky with another. Yeah, they were screwed alright.  
  
"How did we get into this?" Riku moaned as he struggled to hold onto his, Kairi's, and Sora's weight with only one arm.  
  
"What now?" Sora asked. "Wait a second... is it just me or is this the second time I'm dangling above the river on this same cliff?"  
  
Riku looked up, ignoring Sora's comments. "We're about ten feet from the top. Okay, Kairi, use one hand to try and find some kind of handhold and then try to find some for your feet. And whatever you two do, don't let go."  
  
Kairi, shaking, removed her right hand and grasped a rock. She then planted her feet in small indents on the wall. Sora just held onto Kairi, making sure she didn't fall. "Riku, try to climb back up and Kairi, use your feet to try and walk up," Sora instructed.  
  
Riku and Kairi used Sora as a sort of rope that connected the three. Riku slowly stepped up the ledge, letting go very quickly every now and then so he could get a new handhold. Kairi used her two legs and one arm to pull herself up. However, she was really being pulled up by Riku and Sora, merely using her feet to balance slightly. Sora tried to keep the three together and unable able to fall apart. He kept his arms tight around Kairi's wrist as he was pulled up by his ankles.  
  
After around ten minutes of careful maneuvering, Riku finally reached the top and pulled himself to the ground. He tugged on Sora's legs so that he also hit ground. Then they both helped up Kairi.  
  
They all took many steps back from the edge and collapsed on the ground, panting. They stayed like that for several minutes until Kairi raised her arms and threw them around Sora and Riku, her head resting between their shoulders. ''Thanks," she whispered, "I'd be dead without you two. I'm so happy I have friends like you guys."  
  
Riku and Sora blushed slightly, and hugged her back. After they broke apart, Riku and Sora turned to look at each other.  
  
"Friends?" Riku asked.  
  
Sora grinned. "Best friends."  
  
_Realm of Trial_  
  
Sora groaned at the flash of light that followed. _This is getting old, _he thought as he once again found himself sitting on the chair in the courtroom. He could still remember seeing those moments when he glowed, when he had felt the most trust.  
  
Middi stood up, positively beaming. "Well done, Sora!" she exclaimed. "You have, by far, passed the Test of Trust in my eyes. You let your well-being rest with another, and it was with your trust that you saved a life. I would like to see anyone object to giving this young man a passing mark."  
  
Everyone nodded in agreement. Menti just sulked, knowing that Sora had passed; she could find nothing to deny it.  
  
Sora's ego swelled ever so slightly (Me: Like mine is doing) as he saw the approving gestures of the court and the sulking of that bitch, Menti.  
  
Middi smirked. "Then it is decided. Sora has passed the Test of Trust!" There was applause and Sora smiled.  
  
After a moment, the giddy girl stood up, a flirtatious glint in her eyes. "Hiya, Sora!" she said cheerfully. Menti rolled her eyes. "I'm Heshki, and I'll be your guide through the Test of Love today!" She giggled for at her own joke, and Menti rolled her eyes.  
  
Heshki looked to be around Yuffie's age with baby blue eyes and blonde hair. She had a small figure and a look about her that said she would go for any cute guy that caught her eye. This was very unfortunate for Sora. _Kairi really wouldn't like her, _Sora thought, but he immediately stopped himself. Thinking about her brought back painful memories. Heshki continued, "Love is to put your caring for somebody else above the care for yourself. Love is a special thing, and exists within all hearts. We will see if your Gift of Love is strong enough. You look cute, I'm sure you'll pass!" She blew him a kiss, and there was another flash of light...  
  
_Disney Castle_  
  
King Mickey was talking to Leon when Linna appeared, making them jump out of their skins.  
  
"Don't DO that!" Riku roared. King Mickey put a hand on his shoulder in a silent order to calm down as the others walked in, hearing Leon's yell.  
  
Kairi's face lit up when she saw Linna. "How's Sora?" she asked excitedly. "Is the Trial over yet?"  
  
Linna giggled. "He's going in for the third test right now."  
  
"How many strikes does he have?" King Mickey asked.  
  
"One."  
  
Mickey gaped at her. "What test did he fail?"  
  
Linna frowned. "He hasn't failed anything; Menti is just being a bitch."  
  
The men gasped; they didn't know an angel could curse. (Digitaldreamer: They obviously haven't seen much anime then...)  
  
King Mickey nodded his understanding. "I figured as much. I wish you could tell her who Sora is going to be, that would sweetin' her tune."  
  
Riku raised an eyebrow. "What is he going to be?" he asked curiously.  
  
"Nothing, nothing," King Mickey said hastily, although he now knew that they're suspicions had grown too large to be contained for much longer; the only thing keeping them from asking more questions was the fact that King Mickey was, well a King. "I'll tell you later," he promised. "As soon as Sora is back."  
  
Linna sighed. "It will not be easy for him to accept."  
  
"I know," King Mickey said. He then changed the subject. "So, what does the rest of the Council think of Sora?"  
  
Linna smiled. "They are not letting Menti get in the way of Sora coming back to life; they know how good of a soul he is. Especially...." she glanced at Kairi, "....Heshki."  
  
King Mickey smiled slightly; he had a feeling Heshki would develop a crush on Sora quickly.  
  
Kairi frowned. "Who is Heshki?"  
  
"Well, I must return," Linna said hastily. "I will keep you informed."  
  
"Tell Sora to get his ass back here A.S.A.P!" Yuffie called.  
  
Linna giggled as she turned back into misty glitter and floated back to the Realm of Trial.  
  
_End_  
  
Me: I'm so tired, but I'm done! (yawn) Now I gotta send it to my Beta Reader. She'd better not flame me....  
  
Digitaldreamer: Flame? Why ever would I flame this cr- I mean gorgeous piece of work? (That was a joke readers, don't kill her)

Me: Kill!  
  
Sora: Hee hee  
  
Kairi: I hate that Heshki girl! If she thinks she's getting my Sora, she's going down!  
  
Heshki: Errrr...... (runs)  
  
Kairi: GET BACK HERE!!!  
  
Digitaldreamer: Cat fight! Meow!  
  
Me: Ummm, anyways, like I said, reviews make longer chapters. I'm trying to make a chapter for each Test. See you, review! If you do review, write a wish in there and I will grant it! Byes!


	10. Learn to Love

Me: Hiya peeps! I'm back after a nice long break and ready to start typing again.  
  
Readers: YAY!  
  
Riku: You have readers now?  
  
Me: Yup, I have 59 reviews! (happy dance)  
  
Army: YAY! (is eating food from Wendy's.)  
  
Kairi: Pigs.  
  
Me: Hey, no making fun of them! (huggles army).  
  
All: (sweatdrop).  
  
Me: Anyways, this is the second version of Chapter 10 that I'm rewriting. I deleted the first one cause if my beta reader read that crap that I called writing she would have bitten off my head.  
  
Digitaldreamer: (was carving knives, notices everyone's looking at her and hides them behind her back)Knives? What knives? I wasn't sharpening any knives to stab a certain person I beta for with...Heh heh...  
  
All: (wince)  
  
Me: Yeah, she said to take a few days off, so I did. Now I'm revved up and ready to type again. I can usually get these test things done in one setting. This chapter will be short, just to let you know.  
  
Digitaldreamer: Better a short chapter then no chapter at all, right?  
  
Readers: DAMN IT! STOP WITH THE SHORT CHAPTERS!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Me: Sorry, it's hard to make one chapter for each test! Now go and read, god damn it!!!!!!  
  
_Realm of Trial_  
  
Ozen sat behind his desk, biting on his nails nervously; even he could not help but be worried for the keybearer. He was just about to go and visit the guards to check up on information when Linna shimmered from below the ground and met him.  
  
Ozen grinned at her and planted a kiss on her lips. Linna smiled back at him despite the current conditions. "How goes the trial?" she asked.  
  
Ozen's eyes shadowed slightly. "He has only one strike because of that bitch Menti, but he has passed the Tests of Courage and Trust. He is going into the Test of Love as we speak."  
  
Linna gasped. "I was afraid of that."  
  
Ozen raised an eyebrow. "Why, what's wrong?"  
  
Linna rolled her eyes. "You know Heshki; she'll be all over Sora. And from what I have learned about the boy, he is in love with Kairi, even though he will not admit it. Sora won't like Heshki, and I must talk to him before he gets on her nerves and she gives him a strike."  
  
Ozen's jaw dropped. "Okay, I admit it, Sora should be alive. I let you slide and let him into Trial without putting it to vote first. I even let you visit King Mickey and everyone else to give them information. But I draw the line at you visiting him during Trial! I'm sorry. I love you and all, but I'm going to have to put my foot down this time!"  
  
Linna gave him a puppy dog pout, but Ozen just shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "No, Linna. I forbid it! No!"  
  
Linna smirked and lightly brushed her lips against his. The corners of Ozen's mouth twitched slightly, but he didn't move. Linna kissed him again, with more passion then before. She could feel his lips spread into a smile and he whispered, "No fair."  
  
"Ah ha! You speak!" Linna exclaimed, breaking the kiss. "It always works!"  
  
Ozen rolled his eyes and sighed. "Alright, I give in. You may visit him, but make it short! And you'd better not get into any trouble because that gets me in trouble."  
  
Linna giggled. "Don't worry, I'll be careful!" And she walked briskly off to the set of doors which contained the Court.  
  
Ozen smiled gently after his girlfriend. Then he turned around to visit the guards, humming a sweet tune with a bounce in his step.  
  
_Realm of Trial_  
  
..... There was a flash of light, but it was cut off. Sora blinked and looked around, seeing that he was still in the Courtroom. The Council was murmuring nervously when the doors slammed open. They all looked around to see Linna standing there, smiling at Sora.  
  
"Linna!" Menti snapped.  
  
Linna blinked. "Bitch," she said calmly as if it were her real name. Sora sniggered, but was silenced as Menti sent a bolt of lightening at him with her finger, just missing him as he jumped out of the chair.  
  
"Hey, don't you dare torture my future boyfriend!" Heshki exclaimed.  
  
This really brought up Sora's temper. She had called him her boyfriend and mentioned torture, which he had quite enough of, in the same sentence. He opened his mouth to snap some words at her, but Linna had crossed the room and pressed her hand over his mouth, silencing him.  
  
"I need to speak to Sora," Linna said quite plainly as the young keybearer tried to resist her grip.  
  
Menti's jaw dropped a good foot or two. "WHAT?" she roared. "THERE IS NO TALKING TO DEFENDANTS DURING TRIAL YOU LUNITIC!"  
  
"And yet you seemed to find ways to break the rules when you gave Sora a strike for unjust reasons!" Linna snapped. "If you can give him a strike out of hatred, then I can certainly talk to him!"  
  
Menti's face turned several shades of red as she fought to contain her anger. Somebody brought her a glass of water which she just threw back at them. A few moments later she declared, "Fine! Fine, have it your way! But no matter what you do, he can never win this Trial!" She laughed evilly.  
  
Sora tried his best to insult her but Linna was still holding him back. Linna bowed with difficulty to the Trial, still trying to keep her hold, and dragged Sora to the far side of the court room where no one could hear them. It was there that she finally let him go.  
  
Sora glared at her. "What was that for? That Heshki is getting on my last fucking nerves!"  
  
Linna sighed. "That is what I need to talk to you about." When she saw that Sora had a confused look on his face, she shook her head sadly. "I know that you resent Heshki's flirting with you, but I think it would best if you let her do it." Sora was about to open his mouth to protest, but Linna held up her hand to stop him. "Listen, it is very easy to anger any of the Court, and doing so will give you a strike. Please, Sora, for once in your life, please keep your big mouth shut!"  
  
"I've never been that good at listening, you know," Sora informed her.  
  
"I know, I know," Linna said. "Just for this one time, then you may vent out your anger."  
  
Sora looked at her suspiciously. "Promise?"  
  
"Promise," Linna said truthfully. Sora just nodded bleakly. _He's been through too much for a boy of his age. These should be the best years of his life, and he spends them getting tortured.  
_  
Linna opened her mouth to say something encouraging, but was cut off when they both heard Menti's angry scream. "Sora, get your ass over here! We don't have all day, you know!"  
  
Sora groaned. "He's coming!" Linna yelled back at her. Linna smiled at Sora and placed a motherly kiss on Sora's forehead. "Good luck, Sora," She walked  
out of the room.  
  
Sighing, Sora trudged back to his chair and sat down.  
  
"Are ya ready?" Heshki asked, giggling. Sora nodded. "Alrighty, here we go!"She clapped her hands in anticipation and the light glowed once more.  
  
_Test of Love_  
  
Sora looked down and saw that he was once again in the air. He felt Heshki wrap her arm around him and lean her head on his shoulder. "So, what do you think this Test is going to be? When you first set you eyes on me?" She giggled again and hugged him tighter. Sora rolled his eyes in disgust, but did not pull away. _I just have to put up with her for a little while longer, just a little longer_. And they watched the scene play out before their eyes, Sora still uncomfortably in Heshki's arms.  
  
_The Test_  
  
Sora was wondering down the sandy beaches alone. He was nine, Riku was ten, and Kairi was nine. Riku had to help his father with something, and Sora hadn't seen Kairi all day.  
  
I wonder where she is, Sora thought. She's been here for a few weeks, and I feel something strange about her. _Urrgg, it's just a girl! I never think about Selphie this much, why am I thinking about Kairi all the time? I can't get her out of my head. She asked me if I was alright... she's really nice. And pretty, and a bit mysterious..... There I go again! What is going on here, I've never felt this way before, why start now? I don't even know what I'm feeling!  
_  
Sora stopped in his tracks, his thoughts going so fast he could not even gain enough concentration on walking. His thoughts wondered to where Kairi had been the entire day, and he was starting to get a bit worried. _Maybe Riku knows where she is.  
_  
He took off on the path that lead him to his best friend's house, still thinking of the red-headed girl with violet eyes.  
  
When he got to the door, he heard some yelling. "God damn it, Riku, don't drop those!" Riku's father yelled.  
  
"I'm trying!" came the response. Sora rolled his eyes; it was common knowledge that those two got into big fights all the time, but it was just their way  
of showing affection for each other. Sora knocked on the door and the fighting stopped. He heard footsteps and the door burst open, revealing Riku.  
  
"Hey, Sora!" Riku said, grinning cheerfully. "What's up?"  
  
"Nothing," Sora said simply. "I just haven't seen Kairi all day, have you seen her?"  
  
Riku shook his head no, and Sora's worries became deeper.... something Riku picked up on quickly.  
  
"Sora? You don't look so good. Are you okay?" Riku asked, pressing his hand to Sora's forehead to see if it was warm.  
  
Sora chuckled, batting Riku's hand away. "No, it's nothing. I've just been having these weird thoughts lately."  
  
Riku raised an eyebrow. "About what?"  
  
"Kairi," Sora muttered. "It's something about her that makes me feel..... I don't know. Happy, confused, a mix of things. I've never felt it before."  
  
"Are you sure you're not sick?" Riku asked again.  
  
Sora shook his head. 'Nah, I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'm gonna go find Kairi."  
  
Riku was about to ask if Sora wanted company when his father yelled, "Riku, get your ass in here NOW!"  
  
"I'm coming!" Riku roared. He turned back to Sora. "Well, good luck. When you find her, why don't you all come over here or something? We can have Mountain Dew chugging contests and play video games."  
  
Sora nodded, laughing. He jogged off, leaving Riku to go back to work.  
  
He had crossed about half the island when he heard a scream. "KAIRI?"  
  
_Meanwhile..._  
  
Kairi was walking around the island, picking up small thalasa shells to string into bracelets for Riku and Sora; she had to find someway to thank them for being so nice to her.  
  
_If it weren't for them, I'd be all alone, _she thought. _And I might even be dead if Sora hadn't saved me. He seems really nice. A bit immature, but I can fix that. Wait, what do I mean by fixing it? It's not like I have special feelings for him or anything, but still.... there's something about him that isn't in all the others. Something about him makes me feel.... safe, like I can count on him. He makes me feel warm and jittery when he smiles at me. What's going on here? What's happening to me?  
_  
She had reached a clearing in the woods where she was looking for things to tie them together when she heard a snapping noise from behind her. She whirled around and saw four men who looked to be around seventeen. They wore punk-like clothes with heavy belts and chains, poles and more longs chains in their hands. Kairi had been warned about them by the other children; they were tough islanders who enjoyed beating up kids every week and broke into houses, burning things and so forth. The thing was that they were never caught; they always managed to slip away.... literally. But right now, they were all glaring at Kairi with evil grins.  
  
"Well, well, well," said a muscular, black-haired man who looked to be the leader. "It's the little new girl wondering around all by herself. You should be careful; you never know what kind of thug you may run into." His gang snickered.  
  
Kairi's eyes grew wide with fear, and she screamed. This just made them angrier.  
  
"It's time to show you that we won't stand any new trash messing up this island," one man said, as they advanced on her.  
  
"I DON'T THINK SO!" somebody cried out. Their eyes darted to the sides just in time to say Sora fly out of the bushes, landing between Kairi and the bullies. "If you want to hurt Kairi, you're going to have to go through me first!" he declared, holding out his wooden practice sword.  
  
The thugs laughed at him. "Fine, if that's what you want," a blond boy said, massaging his knuckles. Sora gulped nervously, but stood his ground; he wasn't letting anyone hurt Kairi. _I think I'm beginning to understand this.  
_  
"Sora, run!" Kairi cried. "I don't want you hurt!"  
  
"Same here," Sora said over his shoulder. "Don't worry, I can take them!" And he leapt forward.  
  
The fight was fairly quick, but the author knows that if she didn't explain it the readers might kill her.  
  
Sora brought his sword down on the neck of a brunette, and then sent it sailing to the right into the chest of another. But a chain wrapped around his throat and tugged up, sending Sora flying back and into a tree. Sora gasped in more pain as he felt a hard boot slam into his side as the leader kicked him hard; there was a crunching sound as Sora felt several ribs snap.  
  
He pulled himself up and somebody sent a pole flying into the left side of his head. Sora fell to the ground, and somebody picked him up by the collar of his shirt and threw him at another of the gang, who punched him in the stomach with gloved hands that had metal ridges on the knuckles.  
  
Sora groaned in more pain and sent a feeble counter-attack at his foe with his sword, but a Chinese looking man took the wooden weapon and snapped it clean in half.  
  
Sora's jaw dropped; he knew it was over. Then the punches and kicks rained down on him, making Sora cry out in pain and Kairi cried as well, seeing him beaten so ruthlessly.  
  
After a few more minutes, they got bored. Sora's eyes were blackened and his lip split. Some ribs were broken along with his jaw. He was covered in bruises and sharp puncture wounds.  
  
"Come on, you guys," the leader said, sneering. "This is a waste of time. Let's get out of here." And then, laughing their asses off, they headed off towards the dock. Sora lay in a crumbled heap on the ground.  
  
"SORA!" Kairi screamed, running over to him. She collapsed on the ground next to him, and gently picked up his head and placed it on her lap, brushing his sweaty bangs out of his face. "Sora," she said softly, tears falling from her cheeks and into Sora's shirt.  
  
Sora's eyes fluttered open and he smiled weakly, making his lip split more and causing him to wince. "Don't move," she said. He lay still. "Sora? Why did you do that? Why did you just let yourself get beaten up for me?"  
  
Sora just grinned mysteriously and felt his eyes close slowly. He could hear the footsteps of his friends coming to see what the hell had happened, their faces swimming in and out of view. He now knew what he had been feeling ever since he saw Kairi; love. His body could be repaired, but there was one thing that was unfixable..... his heart. His heart had been stolen, forever taken by the girl that now held him in her arms.  
  
_Realm of Trial_  
  
The flash of light once again made itself present, and faded out of view. He was glad that Heshki no longer had him in her arms, but it was getting harder and harder for him to watch those scenes; each memory caused him pain, and in some way reminded him of the torture he had suffered through a short while back; he shuddered.  
  
Heshki cleared her throat and stood, looking put out. It was obvious that that was not what she had wanted to see. "Despite the fact that this boy has no clue what he's missing, and the fact that Kairi can't even compare to me, I still say that it was a pretty good act of love. That, and Sora looked cute when he was fighting, all his cute little muscles.'' She giggled.  
  
Menti also stood. "I...."  
  
"We know, we know," Yanti said. "You don't think it was good enough. Of course, you know nothing of love since nobody likes you."  
  
"Silence!" Menti roared as the others cracked up. "All who believe the boy has passed the Test of Love, raise your hand." Everybody except for Menti  
raised their hands. "Damn it," Menti murmured, sitting back down.  
  
A woman with dark brown hair that had a somewhat purple tint to it stood up. Her skin was amber in color and her mouth was made for smiling. "Well, Sora, I am Kentali. It's an honor to meet you, especially after seeing you prove yourself over and over again. I am the Mistress of Friendship, and I am fairly sure you will pass; I don't think I have met anyone with such great friends as you." She bowed and snapped her fingers. There was another flash of light....  
  
_Disney Castle_  
  
_(Dedicated to LoneWarrior, your wish is granted!)_  
  
Everybody sat in silence, nobody saying anything for quite a while. They were in too much of a daze to even notice that Riku had gotten up and left some time ago.  
  
Riku's footsteps echoed through the hallways as he stalked won them, not really intending on getting anywhere. He was too busy mentally bashing himself to pay attention to his surroundings.  
  
_God damn it, this is all my fault, _he thought to himself. _Maybe if I had chosen light and gotten the Keyblade instead of him, I'd be the one who was dead and he's still be alive. Who knows if he'll ever come back to us?  
_  
He had reached the courtyard and he instantly felt the icy cold droplets of water rain from the sky, tearing at his skin and chilling him to the core. _If only this rain was made of daggers...... then it could end my pain. It's no less then what I deserve.  
  
_He stared up at the sky and screamed "WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN ME?!?" His only answer was the splatter of rain on mud as he fell down onto the cobblestone street. His clothes were drenched as he continued to stare up at the sky, hoping that the rain would drown him; it was almost as if the whole world was crying for the loss of Sora. "Why didn't you take me instead? Just bring Sora back, I'd do anything," he whispered.  
  
"RIKU!" Riku looked up to see Sora standing there.  
  
"Ar-are you real?'' Riku whispered eyes wide.  
  
Sora shook his head sadly. ''Nah, I'm just coming from your conscience."  
  
Riku shook his head in disappointment.  
  
"Don't give in yet," Sora said, kneeling down in front of Riku. "I don't blame you. I just need a bit of faith from you to go on. I will come back; don't doubt that for a second."  
  
Riku stared into the ghostly eyes of his friend. "I'll try."  
  
Sora smiled and blew away with the wind.  
  
Riku heard somebody else call his name and saw King Mickey there. "What are you doin' in the rain?" he called. "You'll catch a cold!"  
  
Riku laughed lightly and stood up, walking towards the castle. _Maybe Sora's right..._  
  
_End_  
  
Me: Yes, I did it! All done!  
  
Readers: (applause)  
  
Me: Now I gotta send it to my beta reader. Oh, and if there are any spelling or grammer errors in here, I have just one thing to say.... IT'S ALL DIGITAL'S FAULT CAUSE SHE'S THE ONE WHO BETA'S THIS STORY!  
  
Digitaldreamer: How is it my fault, you're the one who types them in the first place, if I miss them it's probably because you hid them well.  
  
Sora: (snigger)  
  
Me: Well, I'll see you later! Review please!  
  
Digitaldreamer: (goes back to sharpening knives while no one's looking)

Me: (shrinks to small chibi size) mommy....

Kairi: And don't forget to make a wish. Britt's granted one already, and we need some more!

King Mickey: If Britt wern't in a state of terror right now, she would say ten more reviews before chapter 11.  
  
All: REVIEW!


	11. True Friendship

Me: Hello my peoples!

Peoples: Hello!

Me: Kay, We have some special guest stars in my story today, it'll be really funny! And one of them will do what I know all of you have been dying to do.

Digitaldreamer: ..eh?

Me: Oh hush, I already told you what I was going to write. Don't pretend like you don't know.

Sora: What?

Me: You'll see.

Riku: You never come straight out and tell somebody something, do you?

Me: Nope.

All: (sweatdrop)

Me: Anywho, I'm typing another chapter while in my little angsty mood; you have been warned. Even though my story is pathetic next to my Beta Reader's 'Broken Rainbow'. She just put up chapter 16 and it ROCKS! So if you haven't read it yet, then get your ass over there and read it, god damn it!

Digitaldreamer: oo;;; I am....scared...

Me: Good. She knows her story is good, she's just too modest to say it.

Kairi: Heh.

Me: NOW READ!  
_  
Realm of Trial_

The light burned bright but the heavenly rushing sounds that normally came with it were cut off by a scream.

"Menti, turn off the fucking light! We can't see!"

Sora blinked as, once again, his Trial was once again disrupted. Everybody was turning to stare behind him, so he did as well. What he saw made his jaw drop.

There were two teenage girls about his age standing in the doorway. One had straight brown hair with green eyes that reminded him a bit of Riku's. Her eyes seemed to sparkle like she was always in the mood to laugh. She wore black leather pants and a bright red t-shirt that had one sleeve longer then the other. But what made her stand out were the bright red wings on her back (ElegantArrow 64).

The other girl seemed to radiate with energy. She had shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore dark blue jeans and a white hoodie with light blue sleeves and shoulders. The word "Angel" was written across it. She also had wings, but hers were a dazzling white with tints of purple and blue (Digitaldreamer).

Kentali smiled. "Sora, I'd like you to meet our messengers. There is Crystal, the one with the white wings, and Kim, with the red wings. She, however, prefers to go by the name Fire."

Sora smiled at them. _Damn it, if it weren't for Kairi...._

Fire and Crystal walked up to the Council, but Fire stopped in front of Sora. She stared at him for a moment, and then smiled. (Elegant Arrow, your wish is granted) Without warning, she yelled "SEXY!" and glomped him.

Some members of the Council laughed, others just shook their heads in sympathy for the being-hugged-to-death boy. "Err.... can someone get her off of me?" Sora asked nervously, trying to pry himself from the girls grasp; nothing was working.

"Heh, sorry about that," the angel named Crystal told him. She walked over and tried to pry her friend off, but it was like she had some sort of vice grip on him. "Damnit Fire, you're making a scene!" She hissed in the brunettes ear.

"He's too cute!" Fire claimed, hugging him harder. Sora was almost to the point where he couldn't breath.

"If you don't mind, can you and your psycho friend please get the hell out of here!" Menti roared.

Crystal twitched. She let Fire go, then turned to face Menti, fires of hell burning in her eyes. "THAT'S IT YOU BITCH!" she yelled, stomping up to Menti. She raised her hand and SLAP!!!! brought it down on her cheek so hard it made her fall out of her seat. "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET YOU FUCKING BITCH!" she roared at the top of her lungs.

There was a moment's pause, and then everybody stood up and cheered. Sora got out of Fire's hold and shook her hand. "Thank you!"

"Heh," Fire said happily. "Yeah, Crys and I have always wanted to do that, she gets on our nerves so much, giving us orders."

Menti sat back up in her chair, rubbing her sore cheek. This time, it was Fire who got her. "LISTEN MENTI, THERE'S A WHOLE BUNCH OF WORLD'S THAT ARE GOING TO GET DESTROYED IF YOU DON'T GIVE SORA BACK LIFE! GET OVER YOU SLUTTY SELF AND LET HIM COME BACK!!!!!!!!"

Sora just stood there, too stunned for words. "How come they can curse her off and I can't?''

"Because they're not on Trial," Kentali said sweetly.

"Thank God for that!" Crystal exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I've never seen such a biased judge!" Menti glared at her coldly, still rubbing her cheek.

Heshki changed the subject. "Why are you two here?" she asked; Sora noticed that she was talking to Crystal and not so much to Fire. He smirked. _Guess Heshki has competition. Not that either of them can win.  
_  
Fire looked angrily at Menti. "Because SOMEONE is taking too long with this Trial, the heartless are beginning to take over the worlds!"

Sora gasped. "They're what?" he asked, not sure if he had heard correctly.

Crystal turned towards Sora and nodded, face suddenly solemn. "Yes, Malifecent is controlling them," she said. "The King has sent troops to defend the light, but they can only protect so many worlds. They need the Keyblade Master to locate and seal the second door to darkness..... once and for all."

Sora nodded. "Right, but first, I need to finish this Trial thing."

"Don't worry, we can wait a bit," Fire said as she once again wrapped her arms around Sora's shoulders.

This time, it was Heshki who lost her temper. "Fire, get off of him! HE'S MINE!" she screamed, hugging his middle and pulling her towards him; but Fire kept her hold.

''MINE!''

"MINE!"

''MINE!''

"Oooh, cat fight! Meow!" Crystal said, giggling.

"Both of you, can you please get off of me?" Sora screamed. The only reason he didn't use more force was because they were, well, girls. ( Me: Heh, he doesn't know that girls can kick ass too. Maybe it was just because he thought they were cute. Oh no.... I'm getting confused at my own story. That's never a good sign!)

"Hey, knock it off!" Kenti yelled. "If you don't, you're going to meet one pissed off Princess of Heart!"

"Awwwwww," they both moaned.

"You mean he's taken by a Princess of Heart?" cried Heshki.

"Those girls always get the good looking ones!" pouted Fire.

Sora sighed with relief as they released their hold on him.

"Can we please get back to Trial now?" Menti roared. "If the worlds are in as much danger as you say, then I suggest you leave and let us finished!"

"Fine!" Crystal snapped. "But you'd better hurry it up! We'll be waiting!"

With that they both stalked out, but not before both expressed their opinions even more by Fire spitting on the desk in front of Menti and Crystal flipping her off on their way out.

"Well that was interesting," Sora murmured as he took his seat once more.

Kentali was still standing. "Let's get a move on." She snapped her fingers and the light came.....

_Disney Castle_

They were all sitting around as the King and Riku came back from outside,both looking as if they had some out of a swimming pool.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "You look a bit damp." Riku glared at her as King Mickey spoke a spell to make them dry again.

"Why were you out there, anyway?" Aerith asked.

Riku opened his mouth but was cut off as the door at the end of the hall blasted open. In walked a soaked to the bone man with blonde hair. (I forget the name, but whoever you are, your wish is granted). Cloud was here.

"Cloud!" Aerith gasped. When he reached their group Aerith flung her arms around him, not caring that he was soaking wet. "I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed.

"How did you know to come here?" Leon asked as Aerith let him go.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "I thought that was obvious. When the heartless started showing up in Traverse Town, I went to Cid. He said he just saw you guys leave and I figured that you'd be here."

Kairi's eyes shadowed. "Did you here about Sora?"

Cloud nodded slowly. "Yeah, saw the Magician on my way in. He told me."

"How'd you get here?'' Mickey asked. "I didn't know you had a gummi ship."

"I don't" he replied. "Borrowed one from Cid. So, what about the kid?"

When nobody spoke, Yuffie piped up, "The Realm of Trial!"

Cloud sighed dejectedly, taking a seat beside Aerith. "Isn't Menti still in control of that place?"

"Unfortunately," King Mickey said sadly.

"Damn it," Cloud murmured.

Aerith scowled at him. "No swearing!"

"Get used to it," Leon growled. "You can't stop us."

Yuffie glared at him. "Don't be mean Squall!"

Leon (Squall) was about to yell at her for calling him by his real name but stopped when two shimmering clouds made themselves present.

"What the hell...." Riku murmured as he saw them take the shape of Crystal and Fire.

"Hiya Mickey!" Crystal said.

Donald glared at her. "Show some respect, would you?" he snapped.

Fire scowled. "You're just as uptight as Menti!''

King Mickey rolled his eyes. "Relax, Donald. I told them they could call me that." Crystal and Fire stuck their tongues out at Donald while the duck muttered something about out-of-control teenagers planning on overthrowing the Castle.

"Do you have any good news?" Kairi asked.

"What do we look like, messengers?"

King Mickey rose as eyebrow. "I thought you were."

"We are!" Fire exclaimed happily. "Just wondering whether or not we looked like them!" Cloud and Leon slapped their foreheads. Fire looked closely at Kairi. "Are you a Princess of Heart?"

"Yes...." Kairi said nervously. Crystal could see where this was going and stepped on her foot. Kairi giggled.

"Can you PLEASE tell us what you came here to tell us? The suspense is killing me!" Riku exclaimed.

Crystal opened her mouth to reply but Fire stepped on her foot. "What was that for?" Crystal snapped.

"Payback." Fire replied simply.

Crystal rolled her eyes and continued. "Sora's going in for his fourth Test now."

"Yeah, he's doing pretty well," Fire chipped in. "It's going pretty smoothly, but I think he might have a bit of trouble with the last Test."

"Why's that?" Goofy asked.

"'Cause Menti runs the Test of Strength, which is the last one." Crystal replied.

"How does that work?" Yuffie asked. "If he only has one strike by the end of the Fourth Test, then he will automatically pass because even if he does fail the last one, Menti will still need to bring him back because he only has two strikes!" She said this all in one breath, making them wonder how big her lungs were.

Fire sighed heavily. "That's not entirely true. Menti just may make her Test count for two strikes, and have him fail anyway."

"WHAT?!?" They all roared at the same time, making Crystal and Fire step back cautiously.

"It's true," Crystal said, sounding a bit timid. "She's unfair like that."

Riku groaned, sinking into a chair and putting his head in his hands. "We're so screwed."

"Don't say that!" Kairi cried. "He'll pass, I know he will!"

There was silence following her words, an odd ring echoing through the air. It was broken by the king. "Kairi's right. We can't lose faith in Sora."

Fire smiled meekly. "You guys wanna send him a message? We can tell him, may boost his confidence a bit."

Kairi's face lit up. "Really, can you?" she asked excitedly. Fire and Crystal nodded happily.

"Tell him all of his friends are waiting for him and are getting impatient," Riku said, laughing a bit.

"And if he stays dead, we'll never talk to him again!" Yuffie added, giggling.

Kairi grinned. "And tell him that I miss him and he'd better keep to his promise that he'd come back."

Fire nodded, and Crystal tapped her on the shoulder. "Come on, we'd better go. Ozen'll kill us if he finds out that we came here without his permission."

Fire nodded and they turned back to face the others. "We'll bring him back soon!" Crystal promised.

"Yeah, really soon!" Fire added. And in a wave of sparkles, they were gone.

"Wait a minute....." Riku said, realizing something. "If they use a bunch of sparkles to travel, why do they need wings?"

The worlds may never know.

_Test of Friendship_

_(Heh, I'm going straight to the scene that they're watching. I'm lazy.)_

Sora, twelve years old at the time, was laying on a hammock, perfectly content. He was just waiting for Riku to get back from doing his chores and Kairi to finish off her baby-sitting duties. They were all going to paddle off to Soul Island and have a picnic, maybe fitting in a bit of sparring.

Sora sighed, and let his foot hang limply over the side. He looked up at the position of the sun and guessed that it would be another hour before the two were ready. _This is taking too long.... wonder what Tidus and them are up to?_ Sora grinned. _Well, I have plenty of time! It wouldn't hurt to go see them, would it? _He hopped off of the hammock and walked down the island.

He walked for a good ten minutes before he heard somebody call his name. "SORA! Over here!" Sora whirled around to see a two girls and a guy standing by the water fall, waving for him to come over. Sora frowned deeply. He knew who they were, and luckily they were moving away in a week or two. They were considered pretty cool by the other kids on the island, but what they did to others made them anything but that in Sora's eyes. They were pretty much back stabbers. _I remember when they tricked Tidus. Gave him the good old 'I'm your friend' routine, and got him into saying he had a crush on Selphie. Poor kid, wouldn't show his face for weeks after they ratted him out.  
_  
Sora just shook his head at them, but stopped when the boy called, "What are you, afraid to come over here? We don't bite, unless you need that Riku boy to back you up if you get into some trouble?" The three teens sniggered. _Afraid? Me? I'll show them.... _Sora broke off his current route and walked up to them. The boy, Damien, sat cross-legged on the sand and had a mocking smirk on his face. A brunette named Audrey had her feet skimming the water as she looked at him. The other girl was Damien's sister. Her hair was jet black and she was called Andie. She sat on the rock wall with her feet dangling off of it.

"What do you want?" Sora asked them.

"Chill out, dude," Damien said as he stood up, brushing the sand off his pants. "Just called you over to say hi."

_Uh huh, like I'd really fall for that,_ Sora thought, rolling his eyes.

Audrey pouted. "What, are you mad at about the Tidus kid?"

Sora glared at them, crossing is arms. "Yeah, I am! You think you're so cool just because you can humiliate all the people on the island!"

Andie just continued to swing her feet innocently. "What, you honestly think we did that on purpose?"

Sora's hands fell down from their crossed position over his chest. "What, you mean you didn't?"

"Nah, we wouldn't do that," Damien said, waving his hand impatiently. "He asked us to do it."

"I have trouble believing that," Sora informed them crossly.

"Believe what you want," Audrey said with a shrug as she pulled her feet from the water and put her sandals back on. "But he really did ask us to tell everyone so he wouldn't have to do it himself. But I guess it didn't go the way he wanted to he blamed it on us and hid in his room."

"Really?" Sora asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Really really!" Andie said cheerfully. _You don't come across an idiot like this every day,_ she thought evilly.

"Oh," Sora said, still surprised.

"You know, Sora, you're okay," Damien said with a smile. "You wanna hang out with us for a bit?"

"Errrr.... yeah, I guess," Sora said, his mood brightening a bit as he sat down on the wall.

The three teens smiled, and all three thinking the same thing: _Sucker._

_Half an Hour Later_

Sora was laughing along with Audrey and Andie at a joke Damien just said, actually enjoying himself. He had completely forgotten the time.

Sora head turned as he heard his name being called. The four looked down some ways to see Riku and Kairi, evidently looking for him.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go," Sora told them, hopping down.

"Wait, don't go!" Andie said, grabbing his arm. "Stay with us!"

"I can't," Sora told them. "We're gonna have a picnic on Soul Island!"

"You can have some silly old picnic any day!" Audrey told him. "Besides, why would you want to hang out with them anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, a bit of anger rising in his voice.

"Why do you want to hang out with them?" Damien said, repeating the question. "Kairi is some freak from only god knows where that won't stop laughing and Riku is always pushing you around, beating you n' everything! He's just a big show-off."

"Don't talk about my friends like that!" Sora snapped.

Andie glowered at him. "Do you really think they'll stay your friends forever? I mean, they practically have 'fake' written all over them!"

"I don't get what...."

"Just hang out with us, and ditch them!" Damien exclaimed. "Come on, you want to hang out with the cool people, right?"

"I- I guess," Sora said nervously.

"Then go tell them!" Audrey said. "Go up to them and tell them that you don't want to hang out with them anymore!"

"I can't do that!" Sora said, startled.

"Yeah you can!" Damien said convincingly. "It's not that hard!"

"Here they come now!" Andie said excitedly. And it was true; Riku and Kairi had spotted Sora and were walking over.

"Go!" Damien said, pushing Sora a bit forward.

Gulping, Sora ran up to his Riku and Kairi, who were around twenty yards away.

"Hey Sora!" Kairi said happily.

"What were you doing hanging out with Damien and crew?" Riku asked. "They're nothing but trouble."

Sora frowned. "They're not so bad."

"That's what Tidus said," Riku pointed out. "They had him in the palm of their hands. Don't let 'em get to you Sora," he added, clapping Sora on the shoulder.

Sora peered behind him to see Audrey, Damien, and Andie waving him on. Sora looked back at his friends to see their curious faces, but he saw something else. _What was I thinking? Sora and Kairi are my real friends, not those three. Riku may be a bit of a show-off, but he taught me everything I know and is always helping me get better. Yeah, Kairi came from somewhere new and she does laugh a lot, but being new is interesting and she just thinks we're funny. I can't let them down._

"Is there something you need to tell us Sora?" Kairi asked.

Sora just shook his head to clear his thoughts, and grinned his trademark smile at them. "Yeah, I want to tell you something! If we don't hurry to Soul Island then we'll just have to get dinner, not lunch!"

Riku chuckled. "Let's go then." He and Kairi started to walk off.

Sora began to follow, but turned around once more to see the dumbstruck faces of Damien and the others. Sora smirked and waved them a farewell. He then ran off to the Pier with Kairi and Riku....

_Realm of Trial_

Sora's eyes had gotten so adjusted to the light that he didn't even flinch this time. When it faded away, he saw Kentali standing there and grinning broadly.

"Well doen Sora!" she exclaimed. "You have exceeded my expectations, and I myself see not reason to put a strike against you. Are there any other opinions..." Menti was about to raise her hand but Kentali said ".... besides Menti?"

Menti pouted as no one raised their hands.

"That's that!" Kentali said cheerfully. "Sora, you have passed the Test of Friendship!"

The members of the council applauded as Sora grinned. _Even if I fail the next one, I still pass!_ he thought.

Menti smirked and stood up. "Do not get too full of yourself just yet, Keybearer," she hissed. "For if you fail the next Test, _my_ Test, then you will not win this Trial!"

Sora gaped at her. "What do you mean? I only have one strike!"

"I can make my Test count as two strikes if I want to!" Menti boomed.

"That's not fair!" Sora shouted.

Menti merely shrugged. "All is fair my by standards. Now shut up and let the beginning of your end start now!" She laughed and clapped loudly. There was a flash of light and.....

_To be continued_

Me: Finished. Damn, my Beta Reader is gonna kill me. I already got in trouble for making Menti so unfair.

Digitaldreamer: (twitches and sharpens knives)

Me: Notice she's obssessed with knives? Why is she smirking? Why is she walking towards me with sharp, pointy objects?

Sora: You'd better run.

Me: Good idea.... (runs) HELP ME ARROW! MAKE HER STOP!

Riku: Get back here! (Pulls her back).

Me: What did I do?

Riku: I want to see Digital rip out your spine and shove it up your nose!

Me: (gulp) Army, come to my aid!

Army: WOOYAKA! (attacks Riku)

Riku: AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Sora: Ah hah!

Kairi: You two are idiots, you know that?

Yuffie: Yes they are.

Digitaldreamer: All men are idiots.

Me: REVIEW! AND DON"T FLAME! I havn't been getting as much reviews as my other chapters. Did some readers abandon me in my two week break? Please come back! By the way, special thanks to ElegantArrow 64 and Digitaldreamer for letting me put them in my story! Bye-bye. (salutes)

Digitaldreamer: RAWR! YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE WISH!

Me: EEP! (runs)


	12. The Strength of a King

Me: Another weekend, another chapter. (sigh)

Sora: What's wrong with you?

Me: I'm just not in the mood to write the new chapter right. now.

Kairi: Why not?

Me: (shrug)

Riku: Get writing!

Me: MAKE ME! For all you know, I might just decide to write a crossover between Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon with OCness galore! And there's nothing you can do to stop me! (Is surrounded by her loyal army whom are guarding her with fire-proof outfits so an army of dragons dosn't get them).MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Now read!

Digitaldreamer: (standing with Dragon army) You can't hide forever! Don't make me come in there and flame your ass!

_Disney Castle_

Crystal and Fire were back at the Castle, having replayed their messages to Sora a few mere minutes ago.

"What did he say?" Kairi asked excitedly as soon as they saw the two messengers shimmer back on the ground. "Did you tell him?"

Fire giggled. "We told him!'' she assured them all.

"What did he say?" Goofy asked curiously.

"He started asking us why we couldn't have given him a message earlier; said something about him being screwed on the last Test; saying thank you to you all for the message; and then Menti started yelling at us to get out," Crystal told them, counting each part off on her fingers.

"Wait a sec...." Yuffie said. "What was the part about him saying that he was screwed for the last Test?"

Fire and Crystal's eyes darkened. "Menti is using her power as Judge to make her test count for two strikes," Fire informed him. "If he messes this one up, it's all over."

"You gotta be kidding me!" King Mickey exclaimed.

"Isn't there anything we can do about it, your majesty?" Donald inquired, having grown used to the idea that Mickey could pull a solution form out of nowhere. But the King remained quiet, just as lost as anybody.

"We'll just have to wait," Leon said calmly.

Yuffie turned to him angrily. "How can you be so calm? Our friend may be dead for good up there and all you say it 'wait'?!?"

Leon's eyes sparked for a moment, but his voice remained that of forced calm. "We have nothing more to do. We'll know in a little while."

Nobody spoke for a long time. Fire and Crystal sat on a couch and were talking amongst each other; Leon and Cloud were casually flipping their weapons around; Riku stared moodily at the ceiling, as if daring him to do or say anything to him. Yuffie just lay back on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table and Kairi played with the loose seems of her shirt with a lost expression on her face, as if she was close to giving up.

Fire began to hum "When You Wish Upon a Star" very loudly out of shear boredom, causing the rest to glare at her. "What did I do?" she asked innocently. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"I'm hungry!" Yuffie wailed. "C'mon, let's get sumthin to eat. All this stress is bad for you."

Riku raised an eyebrow at her. "You think that we're honestly going to eat something when we're too worried about Sora?"

It was then that they fully understood what it was like to mess with a hungry ninja. She stood up and yelled at the top of her lungs, making the entire Castle shake. The fires of hell erupted behind her as she bellowed, "WE'RE GONNA GET SOMETHING TO EAT RIGHT NOW! I'M HUNGRY AND WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON AN EMPTY STOMACH! NOW GET MOVING!!!!"

They all gulped nervously and ran towards the kitchens, Yuffie chasing them down. That is.... all of them except Cloud and Crystal. (Digitaldreamer, your wish, however stupid, is granted)

It was then that Cloud noticed Crystal's weapon. It was very large, and not all that fancy. As a matter of fact, it looked exactly like his.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Why is your weapon exactly like mine?" He inquired.

There was a moment of silence and then, she cried out, "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU CLOUD!"

She tried to glomp him, but Cloud just side-stepped it, causing her to fall, face down, on the ground, her wings sprawled out.

"Crazy fan girls," Cloud murmured, shaking his head. He then went to join the rest to get some food.

( Digitaldreamer does happy dance XP)

_Realm of Trial_

Sora blinked nervously to clear the blindness from his eyes. The wind swept through his brown hair, the cries of seagulls reaching his ears. By the looks of things, it was a little before noon. He glanced to his left to see Menti standing there, a serious expression on her face; not mocking, just dead seriousness. This did nothing to sooth his nerves. He wasn't sure if he was just imagining it or not, but she seemed to be even more menacing then before. Sora swallowed back his fear, and looked down at the memory that would, hopefully, prove him worthy of his own life.

_The Final Memory (FINALLY!)_

Sora was currently 13 years old, and he was kicking at random shells that were scattered across the sandy shores of Destiny Island. Sighing, he looked up at the sky and watched as a seagull flew across the path of the blazing sun, sending out shrill cries as it made it's way across the ocean.

He made his way to Kairi's place and knocked on the door. "Coming!" said a voice that did not belong to Kairi. The door opened and he saw her foster mom standing there with a warm smile on her face and an apron tied around her waist.

"Hello, dear. Are you looking for Kairi?" Sora nodded. "Well, I'm afraid you just missed her. She and Selphie headed off to the market just ten minutes ago. They won't be back for a while."

Sora grinned. _Typical, girls and their shopping. _"Well, thanks anyway," Sora said as he raised a hand in farewell and trotted off to Riku's house.

He was about halfway there when a coconut came flying out of nowhere and bounced against his head.

"OUCH!" Sora exclaimed, rubbing his head furiously. He looked around to see who had thrown it and saw Riku and Wakka leaning against some trees with smirks on their faces.

"What was that for?" Sora demanded.

"We were bored," was Riku's reply, shrugging. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Sora said.

"Where's Kairi?" Wakka asked as he threw the blitzball over to Sora.

"Shopping," Sora replied, rolling his eyes as he caught the blitzball thrown at him by the redhead.

"What's with girls and shopping?" Riku asked as he caught the blue and white sphere Sora sent flying at him one-handed.

"Who knows, man?" Wakka said as they continued their game of catch. "Is Selphie with her?"

"Yup."

They all groaned.

"I'm bored," Riku said after a few minutes of silence as they through the ball to random people, trying to catch them off guard.

"I think we all are," Sora told him, send the ball slamming into the top of a tree and making a few seagulls cry out in surprise and scattering in different directions.

"Watch it, Sora!" Riku said angrily as a seagull dived right by his cheek.

"Sorry, Riku," Sora said with a snort of laughter. He was thinking of other people who might be able to give them something to do when he thought of a person he had not seen on the island today. "Wakka, where's Tidus?"

"You know, I've been wondering about that all morning," Wakka said, shaking his head and missing the ball that was thrown at him by Riku. The blitzball landed with a thump on the ground, but he didn't bother to pick it up. "Where did the little spike-head get to?"

"I didn't see him on the island today..." Riku began, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Maybe he went to the market to pick up something?" Wakka suggested.

"Do ya thing he could be on Soul Island?" Sora asked.

"Howa bout this....." Riku began. ''Sora, you got to Soul Island to look for him and Wakka, you go to the market to see if Selphie and Kairi saw him. I'll do a quick check of this island. We'll meet at Soul Island in, let's say, half an hour."

"Why do we need to look for him?" Sora asked.

"Because Tidus is always outside on days like these, that's why," Riku pointed out. ''If he's not out here, there's something wrong."

"What if he's at home?"

Wakka just shook his head. "I was just there; his parents said he left already. And he wouldn't have gone somewhere else without dragging us along, so there must be something wrong, ya?"

Sora sighed and nodded. "Okay, we'll meet at Soul Island in half an hour," he said.

He and Wakka waved a farewell to Riku as they made their way to the dock. Sora took the rope off his boat that tied it to the dock, and hopped in, picking up the oars.

"Race you!" Wakka called as they made their way over the waves.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "How can we race if we're going to completely different places?"

"Oh.....yeah...." Wakka murmured. They rowed swiftly through the water as the gentle waves sent soft sprays of sea water onto their clothes, misting their faces; it felt refreshing in the hot weather.

"I'll meet you in a bit!" Sora called as they went their separate ways, Sora heading right and Wakka to the left.

"I'm gonna kill Tidus for making us run all over for him," Wakka kidded.

Sora chuckled as he continued his way to the island.

When he finally reached the dock, he tied up his boat and looked around. Soul Island was more scenic then anything else. Nobody lived here, and it had a few waterfalls and a dense jungle that hardly anyone went into. There was a river that ran through the middle, its flow nice and steady. Sora and his friends usually swam here if they got tired off the saltwater. In the middle was a dormant volcano that rose up high, but hadn't erupted in hundreds of years. It was said that if you went to the top of the volcano and looked down, it would steal your soul and form it into lava, and store enough for a massive explosion that would destroy all the islands. That's how this island got the name 'Soul Island'. But as of now, the volcano was covered in thick layers of moss and shrubs that grew every here and there.

Sora stepped off of the dock and walked down the path that had been made from all of the people who went down it, feet flattening the ground.

''Tidus?" Sora called. "Tidus, where are you?" No answer.

That's when he heard it. Rough voices were coming from a clearing Sora knew of up ahead. _There's something familiar about those voices.  
_  
Sora walked quickly over. He heard a yelp of pain and he started to run. He swatted at the vines and trees in his way until he finally came to a large flat clearing that was clear of grass and shrubs. It was hard-packed dirt with a bit of gravel mixed in. The clearing didn't worry Sora in the slightest; what scared him was who he saw. _Not them again...._

It was the gang of islanders again, only older and more tough looking. They looked up when Sora entered and sneered. "Well, what do you know? It's our old punching bag!"

Sora growled in anger. He looked down at the ground ahead of him to see Tidus laying there, bleeding heavily from his nose and a bruise on his cheek. "Sora!" he cried in relief. "I was just hanging out here for a while when they showed up and....."

"Tidus, stand back," Sora said in a serious voice. Tidus, hearing Sora's tone, scrambled out of the way.

Sora could feel anger pulsing through his veins, mixed with a strong sense of justice that screamed out to him to fix this problem..... now!

"Alright...that's enough! I'm sick of you guys picking on us all the time!" _Those goons think that they can mess with us like this?_ Sora thought angrily. _It's time to show them I'm not letting them get away this time. Somebody has to stick up for the people on this island; it might as well be me.  
_  
One of the boys laughed. "Hear that guys? The punching bag wants to fight back!" He snorted.

"Doesn't he know he'll just get the snot kicked out of him again!?" Another sneered.

Sora's eyes narrowed, sapphire eyes flashing. "I don't care if I get beat up again, I'll hurt you all just as much! You guys pick on us all the time and it's about time someone put a stop to it!" He could feel something pulsing throughout his body, beginning from his heart and spreading through his fingertips as he held up his sword that was made of a very hard wood with a sharp point, making it almost as good as a real sword.

_(Okay, if you have some fighting music, like Mortal Combat or Heavy Rock or something, play it now.)_

"You really think you can beat us!?" One snickered. Sora's face remained rigid, sliding into his fighting stance.

"Don't tell us you didn't have it coming to you," another said with a smirk, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

Sora, getting sick of talking, let out a roar as he charged at one of them. He brought his sword over his head, and then down in a powerful blow to the section where shoulder met neck. As the man staggered a bit and started to fall, Sora jumped on his shoulders and launched into the air, and tried to land on one of them. But the man just dodged it, and aimed a punch at Sora's cheek.

Sora moved his head to the right as the gloved fist zoomed past him. Sora grabbed his wrist and twisted it. The man cried out in pain and Sora kicked him in the ribs hard! He felt something snap under his feet and he knew he had broken some ribs.

A blond came at him with a thick metal pole and brought it down on Sora's head. Sora brought his sword up, blocking the blow. Sora sent his blade at the man's stomach, but he side-stepped it and brought the pole down onto Sora's shoulder.

Sora grunted in pain. He grabbed the pole and forced one end into the ground, and put his hands on top of the other end. Before the blond punk knew what happened, Sora had used it to vault himself into the air and behind the thug. He kicked the man in the back, forcing him head first into the pole, knocking him out.

Out of nowhere, a fist got Sora on the back side of his head, causing him to see stars flashing before his eyes. Somebody else hit him on his side with a pole. Sora cried out in pain and staggered backwards to take in his current situation.

One was knocked unconscious and another was too injured to stand. Three more were coming at him now. _That's it! I'm tired of this.....they think they can take me?!? Think again!  
_  
_Trial People_

Sora watched as he beat the shit out of the bullies, and he already knew what the results would be; he had lived it. But where he should have seen the white light that meant he was proving himself, there was something else instead. A golden light was coming from his heart, and there was an object in the middle from which the light was coming from. Sora squinted to see what it was. _Is that a...a....a crown?_ Sora thought. And it was.

"It can't be..." Menti said with a look of pure shock on her face.

_Back to the Fight...._

Sora could feel a surge of power coming inside of him and became only dully aware that the thugs were coming closer. And then, without his command, his body began to move on it's own, and he could feel a heat and strange feeling coming from inside of him as he released a combo of moves that he had never remembered practicing.

Sora launched forward and brought his sword down lightning fast in several slashes as it made contact with flesh every blow. The rest of the gang had never seen somebody move so fast.

Sora then jumped hard off the ground once more and flew several feet above their heads, and landed on one of the men, bouncing off of him to send a punch at another. He stopped on a dime and turned around. Without waiting to catch his breath, he jumped back and ran his elbow into a man's neck, sending him down onto the dirt.

Sora lifted his blade and brought it down in continuous blows until the last two fell to the ground.

Sora came back to reality, only partly aware of the fighting he had just done. He felt the strange power ebb away along with the last of his strength. He sunk down onto his knees, panting heavily. _I did it.... I beat them. They won't bother us anymore. They're done; they can't terrorize these islands anymore.  
_  
"Sora!" Tidus cried, rushing over to his friend's side. "Oh man, that was awesome! I've seen some pretty good fights, but I've never seen anyone handle a sword like that. It all seemed like just one move you did it so fast! Sora? Are you okay?"

Sora fell down completely now, no more energy left in his body, having used it all in that last mysterious combo. _What the hell was that?_

_Realm of Trial_

Sora, still confused as to what had happened, saw the flash of light. But when it cleared, what met him was not that of silence. Everybody was talking urgently to each other, and Menti just sat there with a stunned expression. "What happened?" Sora asked loudly.

Everyone fell quiet. Menti stood up, and on her face she wore.... a smile. (Digitaldreamer: Because everyone knows only "SOOPER MYSTERIOUS POWA'S!!11one" can make a bitch be OOC and smile. Me: Oh shush, you'll see why. Let them get back to reading!)

"Congratulations Sora, you have passed!" she said sweetly.

If Sora was not so stunned at the fact that she was being nice, he would have been jumping up and down in joy for getting back his life. "Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" Sora asked suspiciously.

"I am sorry for problems I have caused," she said. Sora's jaw dropped. "I did not know who you were. Please forgive me...." she bowed, ".... your majesty."

_Done_

Me: I love those giant cliffhangers. Don't you?

Digitaldreamer: Indeed my young padawan, you are learning the ways of the force.

Me: You do know that I'm just as old as you are, don't you?

Sora: (is humming 'I just Can't Wait to be King' from the Lion King) Wait a second.... I don't have a clue what you're talking about!

Me: Guess you'll find out later. I think I may leave you on this cliffhanger for a few weeks.

Digitaldreamer: Yes, you are doing excellently in the ways of the force. Now you must "accidentally" have a four-month hiatus...

All: NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Me: REVIEW! And thanks for the idead, Obi-one. I think I will.


	13. What the Hell?

Me: What, did you actually think that I would leave you on my cliffhanger of doom for a full four months?

All: Yes.

Digitaldreamer: (rolls eyes) Everyone knows only I am capable of such procrastination.

Me: This disappoints me. Army..... ATTACK!

Army: WOOKAYA! (goes to Wendy's leaving their master unguarded).

Me: Oh yeah, yeah, that's real nice! Really nice of you.

Digitaldreamer: And now you must face the next part of your training young padawan: Facing your readers after threatening to go on hiatus or after a cliffhanger.

Readers: (smirk)

Me: (gulp) Errr...... read! (runs like hell)

Riku: Get her!

All: (grabs torches, scythes, and pitchforks)

Sora: CHARGE!

Me: AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_Disney Castle_

Once the group had finally gotten some food in them (Yuffie was a happy ninja) they walked aimlessly around the castle for a little while, trying too kill the time. They'd been at this for an hour, the silence between them broken every now and then as they asked each other the time or expressed their boredom. Tension fumed through the air like fog, choking them in its emptiness. Nobody could stand it for much longer until.....

There was a burst of some sort around five feet away from them. It was like a clod of dirt exploding; only it was just a thick dust that vanished instead of showering them in filth. Fire and Crystal gasped when the dust cleared away, showing a man with wings who looked extremely angry.

"Hee hee, hiya Ozen," Fire said nervously.

"What's up?" Crystal asked, a bit of fear in her features as she tried to appear that this was normal; she was failing miserably.

"What's up?" the young man roared, his brown wings spreading in his frustration. "I'll tell you what's up.... at the moment, the Realm of Trial is up above our heads... the place you two should be at right now!"

Fire and Crystal frowned. "It was boring up there!" the brunette claimed. "There was nothing to do but wait for that dumb Trial to end!"

Everyone else watched the heated exchange with their mouths slightly open, hovering awkwardly in the background.

"That Trial is far from 'dumb'!" Ozen retorted. "Not only is it not dumb, it's also done! And if you two were still up there, you would know what happened!"

Kairi gasped. "What happened, is Sora coming back?" she asked excitedly.

Ozen puffed his chest out importantly. "It is not my job to tell you, it's theirs," he told them, nodding to the two messangers.

Crystal snorted. "In other words," she whispered to the others, "he doesn't know either."

"I heard that!" Ozen said, his face turning red as the others fought to contain their laughter. "You two, get your asses up there! Right now! Before I fire you!"

Fire rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, sure you will."

"You love us, and you know it!" Crystal told him, smirking. "That and last I checked you couldn't do fire magic."

The corners of Ozen's eyes twitched slightly as if about to laugh, but he managed to keep a straight face. "I don't care! You two, get up there now!"

Crystal rolled her eyes and said to the others, "Don't worry, we'll be back in a bit with Sora."

"It shouldn't take that long," Fire added. Ozen was tapping his foot impatiently, the sounds echoing through the hall.

"WE'RE COMING!" they both roared at the same time. And with a last smile to the others, the three angels burst and floated back to the Realm.

"Please, Sora, please be all right," Kairi murmured, a single pearly tear running down her cheek.

_Realm of Trial_

Sora blinked, not sure if he had heard right. "What did you just call me?''

Menti smiled. "You do not know?"

"How am I supposed to know? What do you mean by 'majesty'?" Sora asked, greatly confused

Kentali cocked her head to the side. "You mean, the king has not told you?"

"Told me what?" Sora asked impatiently.

Menti frowned. "I am not sure if it out place to tell you, your majesty."

"Would you stop calling me that?" Sora snapped.

"It is inevitable," Menti pointed out as if he knew what was going on and was just too stubborn to accept it. "People will be calling you it eventually."

"Why would they do that?" Sora asked angrily, blue eyes darting along the staff as if one was holding up a sign that would tell him the answer. "They only call the King that."

"But you are the king!" Heshki jittered.

There was a long moment of silence in which Sora turned his head slowly to face Heshki. "What do you mean I'm the King?" he asked hoarsely. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Menti shook her head. "This is no joke," she said evenly. "It is as plain as day, you are the one destined to be King."

"King of what?" Sora said in the same low voice. "King of a World?"

"I'm afraid not, Sora," a voice said behind them. They looked around to see Linna in the doorway, walking in with Ozen, Fire, and Crystal.

"What happened?" Crystal questioned. "Sora, did ya' pass?"

Sora just nodded his head mutely, eyes still on Linna. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked as Fire and Crystal jumped up and down in joy.

Linna sighed deeply. "You are the next King of all the worlds," she told him. "You will take over after King Mickey, which will be in a couple of years. Sora, you are the new king, as chosen by fate."

A feather could be heard hitting the ground at the silence that now took over. Fire and Crystal had stopped jumping and were looking at Sora as if they had never seen anything quite like him. Ozen and Linna appeared to have known this fact a long while ago, and the rest of the Trial waited to see the reaction of the Keyblade master.

So many questions filled Sora's head he didn't know where to begin. _I can't be the new King.... they must have me confused with someone else_. "How do you know I'm the King?"

Menti looked at him as if she thought he was trying to be funny. "Because the combination you used that was shown in the Test of Strength was not ordinary. Only the King can use that attack when he thinks his people are in danger. You used it to defend the inhabitants of your island, showing the power of the King inside of you."

Sora just shook his head slowly. "No.... he whispered. "I-I can't be the King! I just can't! I'm normal, I was going back to Destiny Islands with my friends! I- I...."

But he had stopped as Menti just shook her head sadly. "I am afraid you are destined for much more then that, Sora. Ever since birth you were meant to be King, as Fate saw that although Riku was meant to have the Keyblade, you would eventually be the wielder. Fate chose you above all rest to be King, and it never chooses wrong. Whether you like it or not, you can not change your destiny."

Sora sat there, completely dumbstruck._ No way.... this can't be happening. I was going to go get rid of Malifecent, and go back to Destiny Islands with Riku and Kairi! How can I if I'm tied down at some dumb castle?!? _

Sora was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not notice that Menti, Heshki, Middi, Kantali, and Yanti had all stood up. Sora was brought to his senses as all of the Trial and room disappeared, leaving only the five Mistresses foating in midair, their long, delicate capes rippling in a non-existent wind.

Yanti glowed a blue color, and bellowed "Sora, you are of Courage!" She held out her hands and blew a beam of blue light at him, causing his to stagger as he heard a rushing in his ears and an immense sense of courage that he was going back...

Middi glowed yellow, and said "You are of Trust!" Once again he was hit by a beam, this one yellow. He felt his trust grow at the thought of his friends waiting for his return, knowing he would come back, trusting him...

Heshki glowed with a pink aurora and called "You are of Love!" She hit him with a pink light and his mind was instantly filled with thoughts of Kairi, her laugh, smile, charm....

Kentali glowed purple and yelled " You are of Friendship!" As the purple light hit him, his thoughts changed to Donald, Goody, Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, Kairi, Riku.....

Finally, Menti was surrounded by a blazing white light that enraptured them in a sense of security. "Sora, you are of Strength!" she called with a godly voice. A huge wave swept at Sora, giving him a strong will both mentally and physically...

"Sora!" Menti shouted. "You are of the five elements! We grant you your life! Take it as a gift, as a treasure! You have much to live for, don't throw this away! You have our powers, and our faith! Be free, Sora, King..... KOOTANYAI!"

At the last word, the five members, glowed their respective colors, and glitter drained from them, forming a blazing energy that soared at Sora with it's five colors. Sora's eyes grew wide and, just as it hit, his mind went blank.

_Office of the Realm_

Sora blinked and found that he was once again in the office of the Realm of Trial. He spun around to see Linna, Ozen, Fire and Crystal standing there, grinning broadly at him.

"Sora, you did it!" Fire squealed, hugging him. She was cut short by Crystal, who heaved her off of him.

"I'm confused," Sora said, pointing out the dead obvious.

"King Mickey will answer your questions," Linna assured him. "But first, we have gifts to bestow upon you as well." When Sora raised an eyebrow at her, she just giggled a bit. "Ozen?"

Ozen stepped forward. "Congrats, Sora!" he said. "I think you'll need this back...." Sora saw a shimmering at his hand, and the Keyblade took its shape.

"My Keyblade!" Sora explained, holding it up to make sure it was real.

"Crys and I went to get it from Hollow Bastion!" Fire said happily.

"The heartless weren't all that keen on giving it up, but we, errrr, persuaded them," Crystal said with a wink, her hand still firmly on Fire's arm just in case the girl tried to glomp Sora again.

"And here is my gift to you," Ozen said, holding something out in his hand. Sora picked it up and grinned; it was a new keychain.

It had a simple gold chain, and the pendant on the end was a silver orb that was surrounded by a white fog that circled it continually. Sora put his finger up to the vapor and discovered it was like cool mist. When he hooked on the chain, his blade changed. It was now a sleek, pointy silver that had a misty rope twirling around it. The key part was made of large, heavy diamonds that stuck out in lethal points; blue electricity charged between the two points. The hilt was made of a blue stone that glinted with a powerful force and small diamonds lining the bottom.

"Awesome," Sora murmured as he flipped it over in his hands to view it from all angles.

Ozen grinned at him "You'll need it."

Linna now stepped forward. "I have something for you also," she told him. Sora lowered his new Keyblade slowly to look at her.

Linna held up both of her hands. One glowed yellow, the other blue. She brought them together with a loud clap and green smoke poured from them. The green turned yellow, then a lighter shade, and then white. The smoke became some sort of flowing liquid, now silver, that split into two sections. Both sections went to Sora's shoulders and hitched themselves there. Then, very slowly, the mold spread out into the shape of two dazzling wings, spread out to their full extent of a fifteen foot wing span.

"Whoa...." Sora whispered in awe as he flexed his newly acquired wings, making them longer then before. "I have wings...."

Crystal laughed. "Of course you do! All people that come here eventually end up with wings, whether they pass or not."

"Yeah, me an' Crystal and Ozen and Linna all came here for Trials," Fire said happily.

"What?" Sora cried out in surprise. "You four were held on Trial too?"

Linna nodded sadly. "Yes. Me and Ozen did not pass ours. We both died around two hundred years ago; we met each other then."

Sora just gaped at her, then turned back to the other two. "What about you guys, you didn't pass either?"

"Oh, we passed!" Crystal exclaimed. "But we died in battle. When we came back to life, we died again and they didn't let us have another Trial."

"Yeah, it really sucks," Fire said mournfully. "I died around twenty years ago, Crystal around thirty. But Oz gave us jobs as messengers, and we do get to visit other worlds sometimes to deliver messages, so it's not all that bad."

Crystal nodded in agreement. "Well, how about trying them out? We need to get you back to the Castle; the others are waiting for you."

Sora eyes brightened. "Really?" he asked excitedly. "I can go back now?"

Fire nodded. "Yup, and since only people who work here can travel with glitter, you'll have to fly down."

Sora smirked and said, "No problem. Flying can't be that hard, can it?"

Ozen laughed. "It's not as easy as it looks, you know."

Sora frowned. "I can do it!" he insisted. He spread out his wings again and flapped, but nothing happened but wind being blown from below him as he continued his fruitless attempts.

"Nice breeze," Fire commented. "But somehow, I don't think that will be enough to actually lift you off the ground."

"Then will you teach me how?" Sora asked.

"Yup!" Crystal said cheerfully. "The trick is how you hold your wings. The way you were doing it is like trying to fly with pieces of paper, you were holding your wings straight down. Spread them right across. There you go," she added as Sora held his wings out the way she had told him to.

"Yeah, then you flap your wings. Don't do it that fast!" she exclaimed as Sora flapped his wings quickly and lost a few feathers. "Use big, powerful strokes, like this." She brought her wings above her wings, and then pushed them down with a lot of force and she shot up a few feet. "Just do that and flap your wings steadily to hover."

Sora watched her movements, and then saw Crystal do the same thing. I can do that, he thought. Sora spread his white-silver wings up, and then brought them down. He gasped as he felt his feet leave solid ground. He beat his wings in a steady rhythm until he floated up to where Fire and Crystal were.

"Very good!" Crystal exclaimed happily. "You got this much quicker then Fire; it took me forever to teach her!"

"It did not take me that long!" Fire protested.

"Oh yes it did!" Crystal insisted. "I pushed you off the building to see if you would get anywhere and you fell into a tree and a baboon started beating you with a stick! Remember that, huh?"

Fire just stuck her tongue out at her.

"Is that the time I had to go get you because you were being chased by lions?" Ozen asked; he and Linna had come up.

"We got out eventually!" Fire told him as she turned red. Sora started laughing his head off and flipped over in mid-air. "Shouldn't we be getting Sora back now?" she asked, hastily changing the subject.

"How do we fly through space?" Sora asked, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Linna assured him. "The nice thing about this place is that it sort of shadows over all the worlds, so no matter where you want to get to, you just hop off this place and fly down; you'll get where you want to go."

"Okay...." Sora said, still not entirely convinced.

"Come on, we need a good head start," she said as she flapped up through the air until she was a good twenty yards from the floor.

"A head start for what?" Sora asked apprehensively as he too flew up.

"To get through the floor!" Crystal said.

Sora's jaw dropped. "The _floor_? Are you insane?!? We can't get through a damn floor, it's solid!"

"Not this floor!" Fire said. "Watch Oz."

"Don't call me Oz!" Ozen snapped.

"Just go!" Linna said.

Muttering something about pushy women, Ozen straightened his wings to his back so it was sort of like a jet, and he shot towards the ground like a bullet. Sora watched in amazement as he went through it like water.

"You go next," Fire commanded.

Sora gulped nervously. He stopped flapping and laid his wings out at a slight angle but enough to make him drop. Sora saw the floor rushing towards him and he closed his eyes, waiting for the crash; but a crash never came. He opened his eyes and fanned out his wings to slow down. He was hovering in a baby blue sky and below him was a large castle. Even though he never saw it before, Sora knew what it was; Disney Castle.

Sora just hovered there, taking in the view of the extremely large building as Crystal, Fire, Ozen and Linna fell down with him. Then it all came back to him._ I may be in charge of this place.... no, we can sort this mess out. I'm not a king, I have no royal blood or any of that shit; this is just one big mistake. King Mickey will sort it all out. And then, we'll have to find Malifecent_. Sora shuddered as the memories of his torturing came back to him in a rush, drowning him in coldness.

He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up to see Linna. "It will all be alright," she said gently. "What's in the past is done; you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"I do," Sora choked. "I can't get it out of my head. I'll never forget what they did to me..... and you know it."

"Time heals all wounds," Linna said quietly. "And the healing will begin as soon as we're over this whole mess. Now let's get down to the castle."

She and the others headed down, but Sora hesitated. He ran his fingers gently along some scars on his arm. "I think I'll need more then time for this," he said to himself. He then flew off with the others.

_Disney Castle_

Everybody was either sitting on the floor or pacing in circles. Riku was one of those pacing up and down in no apparent direction. He stopped and looked out the window. He squinted and saw five tiny black dots sailing down.

"Uh, guys?" Riku said, "What's that?"

They all looked out the window and saw the dots. There was a moment's pause, and they all rushed out the door and onto the large courtyard.

As the dots drew nearer and nearer, they began to take shape.

"Are those..... People?" Leon murmured.

Kairi gasped. "It's Sora!" she cried.

And it was. In another few moments, Fire, Linna, Crystal and Ozen landed, closely followed by Sora.

"Sora!" Kairi and Yuffie exclaimed, and instantly launched themselves onto him.

"You're choking me!" Sora said through his laughter. But Kairi and Yuffie were quickly followed by Donald and Goofy, and they all ended up on the ground.

It was a few minutes before they let him go. Sora stood up and was instantly seized by Riku who threw one arm around his shoulders and gave Sora a noogy with the other. "Hey, Sora!"

"Nice to see you too!" Sora said, laughing as he got himself out of Riku's grip.

Leon and Cloud grinned. "Nice to see you back among the living, kid," Leon told him as Cloud just nodded once to show that he seconded the opinion.

Sora grinned back. "Likewise. Cloud, when'd you get here?"

"When I heard that somebody was using you as a punching bag," he replied, eyes narrowing.

Sora's eyes shadowed. "Where'd you hear that from?"

"The King," he said, nodding towards King Mickey.

Then it hit Sora that he hadn't done what he had sworn to do as soon as he got back. He turned slowly to King Mickey and said, "What the hell do they mean I'm the King?''

_Done_

Me: Cliffhangers are fun! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (is still being chased by angry mob).

Angry Mob: ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER? RRRAAAAWWWWRRRRRR!!!!!

Digitaldreamer: (cackles)

Me: EEEP! Must run more (hides in a tree). But first this, I have a message for blackness44. Do not insult my beta reader! Not nice! No reason! No reason! Only I can do that!

Digitaldreamer: ;; Okay, okay, you can stop KairiQueen. Look blackness44, learn to take a joke. Any seemingly mean thing I say I'm joking about. And everyone knows KairiQueen only listens to half of the things I say and she'd never take a four month hiatus. That was a joke.

Me: What do you mean I don't listen to half the things you say?

Digitaldreamer: Hush, I'm not done yet. Also, Sephiroth showing up does not fit in with the plot and if KairiQueen messes up her own plot one more time I'll hurt her, so I doubt it'll be happening. Also KairiQueen has no idea who Sephiroth is, I know, but she hasn't a clue. If you want Sephiroth VS. Cloud; seek out my fic because I don't think KairiQueen can fit Sephiroth in the fic. Huzzah. This is the beta reader saying good day.

Me: Okay, Digital cannot hurt me, just to let you know. She is only bluffing about how she knows where I live, so all she gives me is empty threats (happy dance). And yes, I do mess up my plot but I'm re-writing chapters 1-6 so it dosn't count! And I do too know who Sephiroth is!

Kairi: Who is he?

Me: Some hot guy that all the fangirls swoon over.

All: (sweatdrop)

Me: Review! Nice ones!


	14. IT'S DARTH VADER!

Me: Hello. (Has a bad cold).

Kairi: You okay?

Me: Peachy. (starts coughing her head off).

Army: Koyya doma kukki swon Wendy's?

Me: No thanks, not right now. (coughs)

Digitaldreamer: Wow, spell-check absolutely hated that sentence. I really hope that was a made up language and not something I was supposed to fix…

Sora: Don't go coughing up blood. It's not nice, trust me.

Me: (sniff) I'll do my best to write this chapter, but I'm feeling a bit light-headed at the moment so be warned. Now go and read.

_Disney Castle_

"What the hell do they mean I'm the King?"

Absolute silence followed these words as everybody turned to stare at the mouse king, who was looking a bit sheepish. "Can we talk about this later?" Mickey asked.

"No, we can talk about it now!" Sora said.

"What's going on?" Riku asked, looking from Sora to King Mickey, then back again.

"Hey, Sora, what's up with the wings?" Yuffie asked, poking the feathered limbs protruding from Soras shoulders as if making sure that they were real.

"I'll explain later," Sora said, his eyes still glued to the nervous looking mouse.

"What do you mean 'king'?" Kairi asked, puzzled.

"I was just about to ask that," Sora said, still not looking away from Mickey. "From what I hear, they've got me confused with some other guy," he added, a bit hopeful that he was right. "Right, King Mickey? They're not serious; they're talking about somebody else, right?"

"What are they saying?" Riku asked annoyed. "Spit it out!"

King Mickey sighed deeply; he knew that he would have to tell Sora eventually, but he never thought that the conditions would be this bad.

"Heeellloooo..." Fire said, waving a hand in front of Mickey's face. "I believe the man wants his answers."

Crystal pulled her friend back and hissed in her ear, "Let the guy sort it out first, would'ya?"

King Mickey finally looked up at Sora after a moments pause. "Sora, we do not have the wrong guy," he told him. "You're the future King...... we were going to tell you sooner, but I just couldn't bear to tear you away from your home again."

"What are you talking about? Tearing me away from my home? You mean like the villains have done, and what's happening right now?" Sora asked, trying to keep his voice even. He was cut off by Yuffie.

"Hold on," Yuffie said, shaking her head. "Sora's the what?"

"The future King," Mickey repeated. "He'll be taking over in another few years."

"Since when?" Riku snapped, not liking the idea of his best friend being taken away to go rule over some dumb worlds.

"Since birth," King Mickey explained, not at all deterred by the silver-haired boys rising temper. "That is his destiny, to become the new King. He has the power inside of him that I had, and the power of the entire king's before him."

"But…what if I don't want to be King?" Sora asked.

Nobody spoke for a good two minutes, all staring at Sora, who just ignored them. He wasn't taking this in very well.

"What do you mean?" King Mickey asked quietly.

Sora sighed. "I mean what if I decide that I don't want to be King? Then what? Don't you have, like, an understudy or something?"

Donald snorted. "Sora, don't you get it? This is an important job, only one person can do it and that one person is obviously you!"

Sora just shook his head, backing away slightly. "No, I can't! I can't be any freaking King and be tied down at some castle! I want to go back to Destiny Islands with Riku and Kairi!"

Kairi and Riku looked at him sadly. Although Riku could not entirely understand the seriousness of the situation, Kairi got it crystal (Me: Hey, that's the name of a character!) clear. She knew what would happen if Sora refused the throne, and it would not be pretty.

"It will happen anyway," Kairi said in a small voice. Everybody turned to look at her, including Sora who looked like he would faint from shock any moment now.

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.

"What I mean is...." she hesitated, throwing a quick glance at Sora, "no matter what Sora wants or doesn't want, when it's time for Sora to be King, it will happen anyway. King Mickey will lose power and everything will be under Sora's control." She looked directly at Sora and said, "If you don't take the position, the worlds will go into mass chaos, Sora." (Me: Once again, the name of a reader. Damn, I've got to stop doing that!)

Sora's eyes widened as he searched his mind for something, anything, for him to say. "But can't King Mickey stay? Can't I just hand power over to him and he can still be King?"

"I'm afraid not," Mickey said. "Once the power of the King is in you, it won't leave until the next King comes. Besides, when a King is done with his reign, he goes to the Realm of Trial. Usually, we are advisors to them. The Realm does more then holds Trials; they also try to help keep peace in the worlds. Face it, Sora, in a few years time you won't have a choice. Accept it and learn to be a good ruler instead of waiting and then setting destruction upon the worlds."

Sora just backed away a bit more, his wings rustling. Linna, Ozen, Crystal and Fire took notice of this and slowly circled around so that they were behind him slightly, incase he decided to fly away.

Sora looked at them as if he were fearful for their sanity, and went on, "There's got to be another way!"

"There is none," King Mickey said sadly. "You must stay here and..."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second!" Sora exclaimed. "What do you mean 'stay here'? Even if I did say I'd be King, which I sure as hell didn't, I don't have to come back for another few years."

''Nope!" Goofy said cheerfully. Sora raised an eyebrow at him; how could he be cheerful at a time like this? "You've gotta stay here for the raining!"

"Training!" Donald corrected with a snap in his voice.

"Training?" Sora said weakly.

"Yup, you don't think you can take over without knowing what to do, do you'?" King Mickey asked. "You need to learn all the rules of the worlds and combat, wars and such...."

But he stopped short as he watched Sora backing away from them all, shaking his head. "You're all insane," he said as he stretched out his wings slightly. His head buzzed with all this new information, confusing him to no end. _Who do they think they are, laying all this on me at once? _Sora thought angrily.

"Sora...." Crystal said in a warning voice, "Don't you dare....."

Sora ignored her. "I need to sort this out for myself..." And without another word, he swept his wings out, and rocketed upwards to find that Fire and Crystal were blocking his escape.

"Sora, just listen!" Fire exclaimed. "You can't run now!"

"I'm not running!" Sora snapped, "I'm flying."

''Sora, just come back down and talk to us!" Crystal persuaded.

"I think I've had enough persuasion for one day!" Sora snapped. "I just need some time alone!" And with that, he zoomed below them, and dipped back up, shooting out the window.

Fire made to follow him, but Crystal held her back. "He'll be okay, he just needs some time," she said as they watched Sora's outline get smaller and smaller against the burnt orange sunset.

_Some Random Hill_

Sora sat still on the stony ledge of a large hill that overlooked a lake. The sun was slowly disappearing beneath the village that Sora could make out somewhere in the far distance. Wet, cold air swept over Sora's body, making the tears that were rolling down his cheeks even colder. He could see thick, swirling gray clouds gathering above his head but he took no notice of them. All of his thoughts were currently dwelling upon his current situation.

He wiped the tears away quickly, furious at himself. The last time he had cried was at Hollow Bastion, which brought back even more painful memories that were as sharp in his mind as if it was playing in front of his very eyes. But when he tried to shake away the horrid visions, his thoughts came to rest on what King Mickey and Kairi had said.

"Kairi..." Sora whispered. "You have no idea... I can't be away from you." But when he tried to not think of Kairi, more problems just leapt into his mind. _A King.... no, they're insane. I don't even remember what I eat for breakfast, how the hell am I supposed to be in charge of all the worlds?!?_

Sora stared furiously at the clouds. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" he screamed. A drop of water landed on the bridge of his nose, followed by another..... and another....

The rain came down faster, drenching the young teenager within seconds. Sora didn't care.... he didn't even mind the coldness as the icy needles rained down on his skin, puncturing his soul and chilling him to the bone. But he welcomed the pain with open arms, glad for the distraction. _It's not like it can be any worse then what they did to me_, Sora told himself. _I'll have my revenge on them.... ALL of them for what they did to me..... they will pay...._

But somehow, even the idea of revenge on his worst enemies did not ease his pain; it increased it. _Then what? _he thought in a defeated way. _What happens after I destroy them? Then there's the King thing..... I'm going to be King, whether I like it or not. But I can't be.... I can't be trusted with the lives of all those innocent people, I just can't do it.  
_  
Sora's head hung limply as thunder rolled overhead. He was numb from the cold, and he lost track of how long he had been out. He was only dimly aware of when his body fell back into the wet ground. He closed his eyes as his world was surrounded by darkness, and he blacked out.

_Hollow Bastion_

Malifecent, Oogie Boogie, Jafar, Hook and Ursula stood in a circle as they watched the crystal ball which currently showed the meeting back at Disney Castle. They watched in awe as they saw Sora rose into the air and fly away from the others, and as everyone started yelling at two angels for not stopping him.

"The boy is..... alive?" Jafar said in amazement.

"To hell with that," Boogie exclaimed, "the kid's the future King!"

"Doesn't seem to happy about it though, does he?" Hook sneered. "Threw a right little tantrum."

"Don't know what he's complaining about," Ursula commented. "Many would kill to be the new King. I did."

"Enough!" Malifecent snapped. "I don't care what your opinions are! Right now we need to figure out what to do about this!"

"What can we do?" Jafar asked. "He's back and alive, he passed that damn Trial. I highly doubt we can hope to rule with him back."

Malifecent's eyes narrowed as she watched the boy sit alone in the rain. "He does not seem to be taking this in well at all," she said with a smirk. "Maybe we can use this...."

"... to your advantage?" a cold voice behind them said, finishing her sentence.

They all whirled around to stare at the intruder and gasped. A tall man stood there, face and body hidden by a dark cloak. A thick gold chain hung around his neck and he seemed to radiate with coldness. The villains could actually see their breath the room got so cold. Although his face was hidden, they knew he was smirking lightly.

"Who are you?" Malifecent demanded.

"Do not talk to me that way," the figure hissed, the room dropping another few degrees. "I am the reason you are still alive."

Their eyes widened. "You opened the second door to the darkness?" Malifecent asked.

The figure nodded slowly. "I do not come out in the open often, but I found it necessary as I watched your poor performance." He laughed coldly as he watched the angry expressions on the villain's faces. "What, does this come as a shock to you?"

"Are you here to taunt us or help us?" Malifecent snapped.

"Neither," the man replied coolly. "I'm here to give you your orders."

"Who are you to order us?" Malifecent barked.

The man frowned and held up a hand which glowed an eerie purple light. He closed his hand into a fist and Malifecent began to choke, her wind supply being cut off by an unseen force.IT'S DARTH VADOR!!!! (You can cut this out, I just had to comment) "I can take your life away with the snap of a finger," he hissed, "but you are still needed. You must find the Keybearer, break him. Do you understand me now?"

Still choking as she clutched her throat, Malifecent managed to nod. The man uncurled his fist and released his hold as Malifecent gasped for breath, and turned to the rest. "That goes for the rest of you," he added. The villains nodded quickly, not wanting to cross him.

"Do not think of this as a threat," he said. "Think of it as a partnership. We both get what we want. You will earn your power over the worlds, as you wanted. Beat the Keybearer, break him, and bring him here."

Malifecent nodded. "What is in the deal for you?" she hissed.

The man chuckled softly. "I am in for something much more, Malifecent..... much more. Now go and see if you can carry out the simple task of taking hold of the mind of a teenager." And with a swish of cloak, he was gone.

_The Random Hill_

Sora opened his eyes and sat up. Blinking, he looked around. It was still raining, and he could barely see five feet in front of his face except when the thunder crashed and the rain lit up like little diamonds. But still, he had that creepy feeling that he was being watched. He stood up and brushed mud from his pant legs. _Glad I sat on rocks,_ Sora thought as he stared at the thick mud that sprawled across the lawn. He sighed. May as well go back, he thought, I'm going to have to face them sooner or later.

He trudged gown the hill slowly, preferring to walk instead of fly because this would further delay the reunion. It also gave him more time to think. _Maybe if I'm lucky, an army of schizophrenic stuffed squirrels and demented French bunnies will kill me before I get there_, he thought darkly.

But just while he was wondering where the hell that idea had come from, he noticed that the area ahead of him was extremely dark, coming from five pools of blackness in the ground. Out of them came five odd shapes, terrifying realization striking Sora like the lightening that had just landed a few yards away, lighting up the faces of Sora's enemies. "Oh no...."

_Disney Castle_

There was an instant uproar the moment Fire and Crystal landed.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"Are you crazy?!?"

"You were supposed to keep him from running away!"

"Why didn't you top him?!?"

"Would you guys chill out?" Fire snapped.

"Yeah, he'll be fine!" Crystal exclaimed. "He just needs a little time to think!"

"Think about what?" Cloud asked from his little corner; he and Leon were the only ones who were not yelling. "Doesn't sound like he can do much anymore."

"Yes he can!" Riku argued. "If Sora doesn't want to be the fucking King, he doesn't have to!"

"Watch your language!" Aerith said, scowling. (Aerith was waiting for the rest at Disney Castle)

"I don't care about my language!" Riku roared. "All I care about is the fact that you guys are hurting my best friend, and, in case you haven't noticed, I think he's been through enough pain and suffering without you guys laying this on him too!"

No one spoke as they pondered Riku's words. Kairi wasn't listening, off in her own little world again. Yuffie watched the conversation with wide eyes as if she understood nothing that was coming out of others mouths. Crystal and Fire seemed relieved that they had been taken out of the lime light and weren't getting yelled at anymore. Ozen and Linna had taken a seat, deep in thought. King Mickey didn't know what to say. It was Kairi who finally spoke up.

"He's right" she said quietly. "Sora's been through a lot, and we're his friends. We should be helping him, not making it worse.

Leon nodded. "Where is the kid, anyway?"

Fire squinted out the window, scanning for some sign of Sora. "I don't know," she said. "It's raining to hard, I can't see a thing."

"Why does it always rain in these situations?" Crystal wondered aloud, voicing pretty much everyone's opinion.

"How about we get this whole situation sorted out first," Donald recommended.

Riku nodded, trying to rid the anger from his mind. "Yeah, I think we'd all like to know."

Everyone stared at King Mickey. Feeling the pressure of their eyes on him, he decided that he could no longer ignore the situation. "I pretty much explained everything," he told them. "What else do you need to know?"

"How do you know Sora is King?" Yuffie said instantly.

"Well, he was destined at birth to be the King, but I learned it a few years ago," he began. "When Sora was fighting a few people on the island...."

"You mean those island thugs?" Riku asked, but he was hushed to Mickey could continue.

"When he fought them, he wasn't doing it to prove he could,'' Mickey said, "but to protect others. In this case, it was the other kids on the island. When a King or future King is in a losing battle, and it hurts those he is trying to defend, a power will awaken inside of him. It is a special mode that can only be used on those special occasions, and apparently it's the move Sora used to defeat them."

"Yeah, Tidus told us about it," Kairi said, remembering.

"He said Sora really kicked ass," Riku told them. "He said he never saw anyone use those kinds of moves, he moved faster then he had ever seen anyone move."

King Mickey nodded. "Our charts picked up the power, and we traced it to Destiny Islands."

"Why didn't you get Sora then?" Aerith asked.

"Because he was too young," King Mickey replied. "He couldn't begin his training at such a young age, so we waited. Then he got the Keyblade, and the whole plan blew up in our faces. We had no clue where Sora was, whether he would die or lose his heart, whether or not he would turn evil. The closer Sora got to the light, the greater his dark side became. So we had to wait, and when he found us behind the door and went back home, I knew that we would have to get him soon. But then he was captured by Malifecent and co., and you know what happened after that."

"So what do we do now?" Riku asked.

"We need to find Sora, first," King Mickey told him. "Then, we need to find Malifecent and the rest and destroy them."

"Easy!" Yuffie piped, grinning.

But King Mickey just shook his head at the energetic ninja. "It's not that easy. I have a feeling that a greater force is behind this."

"Like what?" Kairi asked, frowning.

"I'm not sure..." he said slowly."But we'll deal with that later. Right now, we need to find Sora."

The rest stood up and started for the door.

"Wait!" Fire said. They all turned to look at her. "We don't even know where to look! This place is huge, he could be anywhere!"

"Well, we know he's outside," Aerith said.

"Yeah, and knowing Sora he'll want a nice view at some place high," Riku added.

"Uhh.... there's a big hill down there, d'ya think he might be there?" Goofy asked.

"It's worth a shot," Riku said. "Come on, we've got a pissed off spike-head to find."

_End_

Me: I'm done! Finally! Damn it, that took forever to write!

Sora: (pats)

Me: At least I can post now.

Riku: Yup. By the way, what's up with the 'special move' Sora can do?

Me: You'll see later. I may even come up with a name for it. Although some people have names for it, like "SUPER KINGY GLOWY".

Sora: Who calls it that?

Me: Gee, I wonder who (looks at Digital).

Digitaldreamer: (grins)

Riku: (sniggers).

Me: When WAS the last time I talked to her? I think more then a week....

Sora: Maybe you drove her away.

Digitaldreamer: Not like it's my fault, I've been online practically all week. You're the one who's been avoiding AIM.

Me: YOU'RE RIGHT!!!!! (knocks herself out with frying pan)

Kairi: Errrr... Review.


	15. Stormy Emotions

Me: (locks doors)

Sora: Errr..... why are you locking the doors?

Me: I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!

Riku: That's nice, but why did you lock me, Kairi, Sora and you in and throw the key out the window? How are we supposed to get out?

Me: Haven't thought about that part yet.

Digitaldreamer: At least now she can't run when I decide to hurt her.

All: (sweatdrop)

me: Anyhoo, I just watched a Disney Christmas Special and got LOTS of ideas.

Sora: You got ideas from a Christmas movie?

Me: YES! Can you guess what they are?

Sora: You get lots of presents?

Me: Nope

Kairi: The joys of Christmas?

Me: Nuh-uh.

Riku: WORLD DOMINATION?!?

All: oO;;

Me:... what the hell?

Riku: Hey, it could happen!

Kairi: Of course it can, Riku (pats).

Me: Okay, it has nothing to do with those things, especially not world domination.

Sora: I thought your whole fic was about world domination.

Me: That's not the point!

Riku: Then what IS the point?

Me: The fact that people waste too much time reading the dumb authors notes. Now enjoy chapter 15!

Digitaldreamer:…idiots.

_The Hill_

Sora stood frozen to the spot, not able to run or even blink as his torturers stepped out of the murky depths. His azure eyes were wide in terror as he realized what was going to happen. _What if they take me again_? he thought frantically. _What if I'm tortured again? Oh damn it, oh shit, of all the times for my friends not to be here!  
_  
"Well look who we've found," Malificent sneered. "It's our future King. How nice it is to see us like this," she added with a small bow as the other villains cackled.

Sora, with great difficulty, found his voice again and stuttered, "What do you want?"

Malificent laughed coldly. "Are you really that stupid? You're going to have to watch your steps more closely, your Majesty."

Sora glowered at her. "Don't call me that!" he snapped as a bolt of lightening landed a few feet in front of them.

"Oooh, have I touched a weak spot?" she asked. Sora just growled and his Keyblade materialized in front of their eyes.

Malifecent raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think you can defeat us? After all, we've killed you before. We can do it again just as easily."

Sora blinked. _They're right. How can I beat them? I know everybody thinks I'm some sort of chosen guy or something, but I just can't do this! They have the wrong person, I'm just Sora! I can't beat them all. _Doubt was sinking in like a weight, rolling his stomach in a knot.

"You see? Even you admit it!" Hook declared.

"I never said that!" Sora snapped.

"Ahh, but we can see it in your eyes," Jafar hissed as a flash of lightning lit up his features. "You know that it is useless, we can see the thoughts running through your mind."

"There is no point of fighting us," Malifecent said as she took a step forward.

"No," he whimpered, shaking his head to clear it and clasping his hands over his ears. "No, shut up. Go away; just leave me alone... no..... no..."

The others laughed at the look of downfall in their enemy. Sora clenched his eyes shut to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall and mingle with the rain on his frozen stiff cheeks. _How can they be right? They can't! Can they? What if they are? They have killed me before, what if they do it again? Oh damn it, I can't do this alone!_

… But I am alone. I don't care what the others say about me having the strength to be King; I don't care what the trial said. All that matters is what going on now, and I can't do anything. I'm alone. Nobody's here to help me. They're wrong, all of them. I'm nothing special; I just want a normal life. Why do I have to die like this? Might as well die fighting....  
  
"You can join us," Malifecent continued. "Come, be one of us and you'll have no worries ever again, I promise you. If you do not wish to be King, you do not have to. I promise you won't ever have to care ever again!"

"I do need to care," Sora said, more to himself then to anyone else. "If I don't, my heart will turn to darkness." His hand tightened on his weapon. "And I can't let that happen!" He slid into fighting stance.

"You don't really think you can beat us, do you?" Hades remarked as he tried and failed to relight the blue flames on his head that had gone out due to the rain.

Sora's eyes narrowed. "Try me." And he launched himself at them, blade pointing out.

_Sora's 'Search Party'_

They all were walking down a muddy path that lead to the village, looking from their right to the left but not really seeing anything; it was like looking through steel, everything was silver from the constant rain and you couldn't see.

"I think we should split up!" King Mickey yelled over the roaring of the rain, trying to keep form blowing away.

"And how do we contact each other if we find him, huh?" Riku snapped, shielding his face from the biting wind.

"Don't worry, we'll know when one of us finds him, trust me," Mickey said.

"How can we see anything through this storm?" Yuffie asked. "We can't see a thing! Where did this storm come from, anyway?"

King Mickey's eyes narrowed. "I have a hunch, but I'm not sure. I think something big is gonna happen tonight with Sora, the power inside of him is causing a storm!"

"Sora created this?" Kairi exclaimed in wonder.

"Yup," Donald squawked as he chased Goofy who was being blown back from the strong wind.

"It's getting worse!" Crystal gasped as a stone hit her head. "OUCH!"

"It'll keep on getting worse until we find Sora and calm his down," Aerith told them. "And we need to do it fast, at this rate the storm will destroy this entire world!"

"Who knew the kid had so much power in him," Cloud murmured.

"Okay, we'll go into groups," said King Mickey. "Yuffie and Leon, Riku and Kairi, Fire and Donald, and Cloud and Crystal. Aerith and Goofy, you're with me. Everybody search different areas."

"How come I got stuck with the damn fangirl?" Cloud roared.

"Because we shouldn't have two flyers in the same group," King Mickey pointed out. "We need them to get us to higher areas."

"I highly doubt we'll be able to fly in this weather," Crystal told him.

"It's worth a shot," King Mickey told her. "Now let's move!"

They set off, but then noticed that somebody wasn't following. It was Fire; she was hiding underneath a tree.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "You coming or not?"

"How about you all go on without me?" she suggested.

"Why?" Yuffie asked curiously as Crystal rolled her eyes.

"They call me 'Fire' for a reason!" she yelled. "I'm like fire! I don't like the rain!"

"Come on, you!" Crystal demanded, tugging the resisting angel from underneath the tree. "You need to come with, too!"

"You can't make me!"

"Watch me!"

"Stop fooling around!" the King ordered. "We need to find Sora!"

With that, they all split up.

_The Field Where Sora and The Villains Are_

Sora flung himself at them full force with his new Keyblade's lethal tip pointing towards them. In all truth, he had not clue who he was going to attack first, so he decided to get the weaker ones down first. He brought his blade up and down in a diagonal slash across Oogie Boogie's chest, tearing the cloth and little bugs began to crawl out.

Smirking, Sora brought his blade forward in a lunge to try to get it through the new slash, but it was blocked by a pointy, lance-like sword from Hook who was sneering. Growling, Sora knocked the sword to the side and aimed a strike at his head, but was once again blocked as a slimy tentacle wrapped around his arms and brought it back.

With a gasp, he felt the suckers of Ursula's tentacles sucking away at his flesh and beginning to tear it. It brought back the memories of Hollow Bastion and Sora struggled frantically, stumbling back and rubbing his arm gingerly as thin traces of blood leaked slowly. Meanwhile, a few snipper bugs had repaired the slash on Boogie's chest.

Sora grunted as his back seared white-hot with pain; Hades had slammed a fire blast at his back. Sora flipped backwards, trying to get dodge and destroy the fire demon. Unfortunately, his fear was obviously thickening his skull because he ended up jumping right back into the flames.

Sora yelled in pain and staggered out of the path. This didn't go well because Jafar had summoned black magic to the end of his staff, sharpening it to a deadly tip. He brought it ripping down across the boy's back, ripping the already blackened skin.

Sora winced; it was time for him to get some shots in here and see what this new Keyblade could do. With a roar, Sora whipped around to face Jafar and send the edge of the blade slamming into his side. Jafar blocked with his staff, but this only half worked. He lodged his staff at a bad place on the Keyblade, causing Sora's weapon to slide and create a long slash across his hip.

Hissing in pain, Jafar's eyes glowed red and, with an incantation, sent a whirl of flame into Sora. Sora just sent a blizzard spell into this and canceled it out. Just as the Keybearer thought he had the quick fight with Jafar won, Malifecent, sneaked up from behind and sent a beam of dark purple into him.

Sora screamed in pain as he crumbled to the ground. Every vein in his body leaked magma, his bone were being crushed, knives carving down into every inch of his skin. Of course, none of this was happening but it sure as hell felt like it. Malifecent kept this up for another few moments until she had her fill of his screams. She took the beam off him.

Gasping for air, Sora slowly tried to stand but Ursula shot him with lightening. Sora yelled is surprise and pain as he was sent slamming into the mud once more. He rolled over and, shaking, got back to his feet. He began to catch his breath and Malifecent sneered. "Do you give in yet, boy?"

"NEVER!'' Sora snarled. He swung his Keyblade across his shoulder and ran into the person/thing closest to him; Oogie. But just as knives ripped themselves out of Boogie's hands, Sora launched himself into the air, taking hold of the bag's shoulders and when Sora landed, Oogie went flying forward a good few feet. But then Sora began to feel little jolts of pain that turned into large jolts of pain. Sharp bugs had gotten out of Oogie Boogie when Sora threw him, and were now piercing their way into his skin with sharp beaks and talons. Sora furiously wiped them away, and the bugs, although now off, still had gotten a hold of his skin and peeled back small patches of it.

Sora still fought, but he knew he was losing._ I can't fight them! I can't win! They're doing exactly what they did to me back at Hollow Bastion! _He thought as he cut off a section of hook's arm and resulted in having his arm sliced right down the middle as the other arm, the one with the hook, sliced it open. _It would be nice if I had some powers that came with being King, but I don't. I can't even BE a King. I would end up ruining a lot of worlds; I don't know what they're thinking. I don't have any power in me besides that of the Keyblade master, and even that's not rightfully mine! It's Riku's! Riku.....what would he think of me now?  
_  
Sora dodged another fire attack, but just got hit with a ice blast from Ursula. As he groaned in pain, he tried to put his mind somewhere else. _Kairi, I won't ever see her again. I won't see any of my friends ever again. Hell, I even made some new friends and I won't get to see them either. _Sora whirled around to face Malifecent and readied an attack, but got hit by a orange light that made him feel as if his very soul was ripping his apart, piece by piece. He screamed, and fell to the ground. And this time, he did not get up.

_Meanwhile_

Cloud and Crystal were walking over rocks as they climbed over rugged terrain, concentrating on getting to the top to see if they could get a better view.

"SORA!" Crystal shouted. "SORA! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Do you honestly think he's going to hear you?" Cloud growled.

Crystal blinked, and then smiled. "You're cute when you're angry."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I'm taken, get a life."

"But Cloud, you are my life!" she insisted. "You know, you're quite a big hit with us angels."

"Isn't that nice," Cloud grumbled sarcastically.

Crystal nodded frantically. "Yeah, as a matter of fact we were wondering if you..... what's that?" They had reached the top and were now looking across at a field. Although they could no longer see properly, they still saw moving shaped and flashes of different colored lights.

"Oh shit..." Cloud began. "Not them...."

Another bolt of lightning had just flashed, clearly lighting up the faces of Malifecent, Oogie Boogie, Hades, Ursula, Jafar, and Hook who was lying on the ground and cradling his arm; well, what was left of it. And another figure lay on the ground, one with a sparkling Keyblade and wings....

"SORA!" Crystal cried.

"Go help him!" Cloud roared. "I'll go find the others!"

"But...."

"Just go!" Cloud repeated. "Hold them off for as long as you can! if Mouse over there is right, they'll sense it anyway."

Crystal nodded and ran down the slope, opening her wings. I can't fly in this weather, she thought, but I can glide! She tipped up her wings and brought them down, splattering mud as she flew up and glided down to Sora and the rest.

_The Field_

Sora didn't bother to get up; he knew he was beaten. But he wouldn't give in.... he would rather die. Malificent stepped forward, smirking. The rain was slowing and stopping as Sora's energy drained away from him.

"It seems that you are beaten, Keybearer," Malificent hissed. The next moment, she grunted in pain as something banged into her. A wing.

"Hiya, Malificent," Crystal quipped as she came to a halt in front of Sora, blocking the others assaults on the teenager.

Sora's eyes cracked open a bit and he saw a figure towering over him from his position on the grass. "Crystal..." he murmured, not believing what he was seeing.

"Hey," she answered back, her eyes clouding as she looked at his beaten form. "Don't worry, the others are coming."

"By then he will be gone and you dead!" Malifecent snapped as she raised her staff to the angel who still stood in front of Sora.

"Does that mean you're killing all of us?" a voice called. They all looked around, except for Sora who couldn't lift his head at the moment. The voice belonged to Riku, who also had Leon, Cloud, Aerith, Donald, Fire, Goofy, King Mickey and Kairi standing beside him.

"Oh great, we've got more company," Hades growled in frustration.

"Yeah us," Yuffie called as the new group started walking forward to stand around Sora. "You didn't think we'd let our friend die, would you?"

The whole point of the conversation they were having was so that Aerith could go unnoticed by the villains to heal Sora.

"Stand aside and let him meet his fate!" Malificent snapped.

"Oh stuff it," Fire retorted.

"You can't have Sora," King Mickey informed her. "He isn't going anywhere."

"Says who?" Malifecent sneered.

"Says me," a voice stated. They all watched as Sora stood slowly, Aerith having finished her healing. Sora was ready. He wasn't going to let them destroy him and his friends, not while he was alive. How much longer he was alive for Sora really didn't know. But his friends showing up when he needed them most meant something, and he was taking full advantage of it. Sora's eyes narrowed at Malifecent as he drew up his Keyblade. "Round two."

_Done_

Me: I'M FINALLY FINISHED!

Kairi: I thought you were supposed to take a break from writing and relax?

Digitaldreamer: (glares menacingly)

Me: But writing IS relaxing for me.

Army: Koola unoy refoot tuno.

Riku: What the hell is with the made up language?

Me: (shrugs) Don't know. I just do it to annoy my beta reader who has to put it through spell check.

Digitaldreamer: (hisses)

All: (sweatdrop)

Sora: What were the ideas you got from the Christmas Movie thing?

Me: (smirk) Wouldn't YOU like to know?

Riku: She isn't going to tell us, is she?

Sora and Kairi: (shakes heads)

Digitaldreamer: She didn't even tell me, and I'm her Beta Reader. (Whips out stick of pain)

Me: Maybe we should concentrate on getting out of here?

Riku: Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have THROWN OUT THE KEY!

Me: How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?!

Sora: That's what usually happens when you lock doors!

Army: (is trying to knock down door) Nooya hunoom door guppo Wish huyan damn cukki squeek squeek chirp chirp door!

Digitaldreamer: (twitches in annoyance and swings Stick of Pain at Wish and her Army)

Me: (dodges stick of pain) Well, while we try to free ourselves, leave a nice review please. They make me type faster! Just two chapters after this and an epilogue, that's it. So enjoy the story while you can. I must go help break down the door. (runs to help knock down door)


	16. Facing Fate

Me: Okay, everyone, I have good news and I have bad news.

Riku: Bad news first.

Me: Due to circumstances beyond my control, I won't be able to type starting this Wednesday, and it is currently Monday. I may not finish on time and may leave you guys on a cliffhanger for a VERY long time.

Readers: (groan)

Digitaldreamer: Yes! No more work for m- I mean, that's terrible!

Me: Now the good news.

Sora: You just saved a ton of money on your car insurance by switching to Geico?

Me: No.

Kairi: Then what else could be better?

Digitaldreamer: (whacks characters over head) Stop with the commericals!

Me: First off, I don't HAVE a car. Second....

All: (holds breath)

Me: ...I found a nickel! (holds up shiny new nickel)

All: (anime fall)

Me: (happy dance) Well, enjoy chapter 16!

_The Field_

_"Round two."_

"What do we do, we're out numbered!" Hades hissed in Malifecent's ears.

"I noticed" she hissed back, eyes narrowing. "But they are young, they cannot possibly compare to our power."

"We can hear everything you're saying, there's no need to whisper!" Kairi called.

Malificent smirked. "It's time to put you all in your place." It was then that she realized somebody wasn't there. "What..."

"Surprise!" a voice called from above them. Their heads darted up to see Sora dive bombing from the sky, streaking like a jet towards the ground. Malifecent raised her wand to shoot a spell at him, but it was too late as Sora's wing rammed into her side, causing her to drop he mystic staff.

"Aarrgh!" she growled as she dived for it, but Riku was already there.

"Looking for this?'' he asked, holding it up. As Malifecent started towards him, Riku yelled, "Sora, ca-" He was cut off as Hades sent a fire blast into his side. The wand flipped into the air and Malifecent caught its handle, the tip glowing green.

Fuming, Sora held up his key blade and yelled "Firaga!" Sora was pretty pissed off at the moment, using his strength in the spell and hoping to kill off the leader for good this time. But she just summoned a shield and Sora's spell bounced right off it and into Oogie Boogie.

"AHHH!!!" the Halloween creation yelled as the insects inside of him started to hiss in pain, and Boogie erupt into flames.

"One down, five to go," Fire exclaimed, raising her purple crystal sword.

Crystal and Fire leapt forward to take Ursula, Cloud and Leon went to Jafar, Goofy and Donald went to attack Hook, Yuffie and Kairi ran to take on Hades, King Mickey fought the heartless that were starting to pop out of the ground. Riku and Sora were in charge of Malifecent.

"Is that the best you can do, girls?" Ursula asked as she easily blocked more spells sent by Fire and Crystal. "Honestly, you're wasting my time."

Growling, Crystal charged at the sea witch recklessly. "Crystal, don't!" Fire called. But it was too late. Ursula smirked as she sent lightning head-first into the angel, making a hard contact.

Crystal screamed in surprise at the upcoming blast and frantically tried to cast an aero spell, but the blast hit her before she had the chance. Crystal hit the ground hard, sword tumbling out of her grasp.

"Are you okay?" Fire asked, rushing up to her fallen friend. She grasped her shoulders and shook her, but nothing happened; Crystal's head just rolled helplessly to the side. The attack would not have had such an effect if Crystal's sword hadn't acted as a giant lightning rod and the two forces coming together quickly.

"Crystal, this isn't funny! Wake up!" Fire swirled her staff around to cast a spell, but hit the ground as Ursula's Trident crunched down on the side of her head. She hit the ground, blood pouring from a thick gash on the side of her head.

Smirking, Ursula said, "Pathetic. Could have given me a bit more of a challenge." And she walked away to help her partners.

Goofy and Donald weren't having such an easy time either. Goofy rammed his shield into the pirate, but Hook just hooked his hook (Me: I said 'hook' too many times XD) on the side of the shield and pulled down, causing the shield to flip over along with Goofy who splattered down into the mud.

Donald sent water and fire spells at the fiend, but the magic didn't have much effect since Jafar had taken the liberty of putting a defense charm around him. "My turn," he said. He raised his hand to summon heartless but Riku had appeared behind them and he rammed his wingblade into Hook's heart; well, where his heart should have been. Hook screamed in pain and burst into clouds of black smoke. He then returned to his fight with Malificent.

Donald rushed over to Goofy to discover that his comrade had been knocked off. Shaking his head, Donald decided to reserve his remaining magic; besides, Goofy did more damage to himself awake then asleep. Donald ran off to help his King. You know, the mouse one. (Digitaldreamer: And here we view an awkward, obvious attempt to get out of having to write a character.)

Sora and Riku were trying their best to kill off Malificent, but were finding it rather difficult.

"Blizzaga!" Sora shouted, his Keyblade pointing to Malificent. Malificent defended herself with a fire spell which went whirling right through Sora's attack and into the young King.

Sora grunted in pain as, once again, flames seared at his skin. He was getting fed up with it. As Riku sent a chain combo at the witch, Sora glanced around.

From what he could see, both Fire and Crystal were down along with Goofy and Leon .... there was another that he couldn't quite make out. Then he saw something that shocked him just as much as everything else that night; orange beams erupted from the ground, capturing the remaining villains: Malifecent, Jafar, Ursula and Hades.

Sora watched in awe as they tried to get out until he heard King Mickey yell, "OVER HERE! Bring everyone with you!"

Riku and Sora exchanged worried glances as they rushed over, stopping by Fire and Crystal on the way. Sora lifted Crystal up and Riku did the same with Fire. They proceeded over to the rest where Leon and Goofy already lay. One other person was unconscious, scraped and bruised, with a long gash across her stomach. After a moment of scrutinizing, she was recognized…

"Kairi!" Sora cried. He knelt down beside the fallen princess of heart, tears forming in his eyes.

"She got hit in the head with a fire slash," Yuffie said sadly. "We haven't been able to wake her up..."

"She can't be..... She can't be...." Sora went silent.

In the distance they heard that furious screams of their foes as they struggled against their containment.

"What kind of spell was that?" Donald asked.

"A containment spell," King Mickey said shortly. "It will hold them but not for long. They're going to break out any time now. What we need is a plan. Sora, what do you think?"

Everyone turned to look at the teenager and saw that his face was turned down, head turning slightly as he looked at the fallen forms of his friends.

"They can't do this...." Sora growled. _They had no right to hurt them... they're innocent, and they're going to pay. I can't take any more pain. It all ends.... TODAY. They say I'm some sort of king, that I'm something special. Well, if I am, now's a good time to see if they're right... _

"Sora?" Riku asked, looking at his best friend.

_I can do this..._

"Sora, are you alright?" Yuffie asked cautiously.

_They can never win. It's time I showed them that...._

Sora stood up so quickly everyone started. They watched his face, bangs hiding his eyes. Then, below the place his eyes were began to glow. Sora looked up and they saw that his blue eyes had turned into bright yellow orbs, staring with a set line on his face.

"What the hell...." Cloud murmured.

"Oh boy...." King Mickey said, stepping back. "I would stand back if I were you guys...."

Then, the ground began to quake and wind erupted from underneath Sora's feet, his body glowing in a multi-colored aura. Then, he opened his mouth and screamed, energy bursting from his skin.... his heart....

"W-what's happening?" Yuffie stammered.

"You know that power inside of Sora I told you all about?" King Mickey asked nervously, taking a few steps backward. "Well, combined with the power of the Keyblade.... umm, it's back."

By now, the quakes in the earth had reached where the villains were captured and ruptured the bars, causing them to crack and crumble in a shower of sparks. They stared wide-eyed at the boy who had stopped yelling in rage and saw the ground literally ripple, waves of different colors spreading from his body. They watched as he slowly walked forward, glowing Keyblade in hand.

Malificent stepped forward, eyes narrowing as she watched the oncoming figure. For once, she had no idea what was going on. So, with a wave of her staff, she sent another painful curse at Sora. But the boy just waved his hand and the curse simply deflected itself, fused with Sora's own magic, at Ursula. She screeched in pain before bursting into black water, the trident clattering to the ground.

The other villains gasped and stepped slowly backwards. Except for Hades, that is.

"What the hell is this, a circus act?" he snapped. "Let's get going!" He summoned a large fire ball into his hand and threw it in Sora's direction.

Once again, the glowing wonder held up his hand and caught the ball in his hand. He closed his fist and the fire dissolved into ash. Now it was Sora's turn. In a single swift movement, he whipped up his blade and ran right at  
them and swung.He first gto Hades, slashing him cleanly through the stomach, paying no attention as the God of the Underworld screamed and vanished.

Sora then cut the head clean off of Jafar's staff. Jafar gasped, and dropped his weapon. His hands glowed red and he attempted to slash Sora with his bare hands, but Sora brought up his blade and cut Jafar's arms off.

There was only but one blinding moment of pain for the sorcerer as Sora slammed his blade through Jafar's chest. Jafar screamed in pain and blew up in blue emerald flames.

Slowly, Sora turned around on the spot to stare at the two that were remaining.

_What the fuck_? Riku thought frantically. It's like Sora's a completely different person! _Damn, he destroyed those guys with one blow!_

Almost as if he were reading Riku's mind, King Mickey said "Don't you worry, Riku, Sora's fine. He'll be okay once this is over."

"But where'd all this power some from?" Cloud exclaimed.

"From inside of him," King Mickey replied. "The power of the Keyblade and King is being combined. But what I don't get is how there is this much power. He must be getting it from another source, I just can't figure out where."

Sora smirked as he saw the petrified look on the face of Malificent. He leapt forward and swung his Keyblade down only to be blocked by a glowing staff.

"You won't be beating me easily, boy," she hissed. Her staff glowed blood red and started to smoke as she sent a bolt of red shocks at Sora. He blocked with his Keyblade and spread out his wings that had also changed to glowing rainbow colors that flooded and swirled around, forever changing positions. With a cry he shot up a few yards, then dropped and brought it down on Mailifecent's head.

Once again, she blocked easily with her staff. This time when she blocked, Sora's Keyblade glowed yellow and sent electricity surging through the weapon and into Malificent's staff, making it impossible to hold.

She gasped in surprise as she dropped it. She stepped forward to pick it up but Sora's brought his foot over it, snapping it clean in half.

Silvery shadows moaned quietly as they were released from the staff, from where Sora was not sure. The wind came by and blew them away.

Sora stumbled backwards. Sora quickly blew white magic at her. She screamed in pain. But the blast would not be painful to anybody..... anybody with a heart. And unfortunately for Malifecent, she had none.

Aerith had healed the others by now, although they were a bit shaky and would get treatment at the palace. They edged closer to the fighting duo and watched as Malificent slammed and skidded onto the ground, glaring at Sora as he held his Keyblade up to her face.

"You know what this means," she hissed, glowering at him through a mask of blood. "You will never be free again; you'll be King of all the worlds, tied down at a life set out for you."

"No he won't!" Kairi cried, knees shaking slightly. "As long as he still has his friends, he won't ever be tied down."

"He'll be free as long as he had us," Riku declared.

Malificent glowered at Sora. "You can not destroy me boy, there will always be evil to take you down! It is your fate."

The ground began to quake again as Sora glowed brighter still. "I've accepted my fate....." Lightning bolts erupted from the ground and into the sky. With a final roar, he yelled, "... IT'S TIME YOU ACCEPT YOURS!" His Keyblade grew a white arrow on the end. "OBLIVIRATE!" A jet of white light was sent searing into her.

Malificent screamed in pain, the last noise ever to be made by her again as she disappeared in a flash of purple light.

_After the Fight Scene That Took Way Too Long To Type_

Sora breathed in deeply and let out, the excess power going with his breath. He sank to his knees, Keyblade finally falling out of his hands.

"Sora!" his friends called as they rushed to his side.

Sora felt a bit dizzy as the last of his strength dissolved away. _I did it.... _was all he could think of. But he was too tired to think anymore, too drained to worry about what Malificent said... about how there was still evil lurking out there.... waiting for him...whispering threats in his ear...

The Keyblade Master fell to the ground, unconscious.

_A Cliff_

The hooded man watched as a group of people lifted the young man up and back to the castle, seeing that he was unconscious. (Look! It's Darth Vador!)

His eyes narrowed; he knew that Malificent and the rest would fail him, he just wanted to test the boy's strength; Sora had passed with flying colors.

"Soon, you shall see, Keybearer," the cloaked man hissed. "You shall be King, but on what side you shall be on...."

He walked slowly down the gravel path, disappearing slowly. But not without the final words, "... that is up to the Madji."

_End_

Me: Yes, yes, I know, I know.... this is the shortest chapter in the history of forever.

Digitaldreamer: I know, isn't it great!?

Readers: (glare)

Me: But it's not my fault! Honestly!

Riku: Uh-huh, suuuurrreee it isn't (pulls out scythe)

Me: (gasp) EEP! SILVER HAIRED NUTSO ON THE LOOSE WITH A SCYTHE! RUN!!! (runs away screaming)

All: (chases her) RAAAWWWRRRR!!!!

Digitaldreamer: (watches while eating popcorn)

Me: AAAAHHHHH!!!!

Digitaldreamer: Ah, I'll say it for her. Review!


	17. A Whole New World

Me: HELLO!

Cast: (falls over)

Me: I'm back from my hiatus. I know you're all thrilled to see me.

Riku: You have no idea.

Digitaldreamer: …But I was just enjoying the lack of yelling at me to type MY fic…

Me: Okay, I am sad to say that this is the last chapter of Revenge of the Darkness.

All: (groan)

Sora: FINALLY!

Digitaldreamer: WHOO!

Kairi: Why are you so happy?

Digitaldreamer: No more beta reading!

Sora: No more torture! No more pain! No more Wish! No....

Me: ... (is crying)

Sora: Oops.... well, I'll miss you.

Me: (sniff)

Digitaldreamer: (pats Wish on the back and gives her a tissue)

Yuffie: Nice going, you made her cry!

Me: Just read the last chapter.

_Disney Castle_

Sora opened his eyes slowly and all he got was a blur of color. He blinked a few times and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Groaning, he sat up and a thin blanket fell off of him. Looking around, he saw that he was lying on a couch in a large room. And surrounding the dome like ceiling was... mouse icons?

"Sora! You're awake!" a girl screamed. Before he could react, he was hit by a green-yellow blur that knocked both of them over the couch.

"Yu-Yuffie?"" Sora stuttered as the teenage ninja glomped his middle.

"Guys, he's awake!'' she yelled over her shoulder. Sora could hear hurried footsteps and soon Kairi, Fire and Crystal had jumped on him as well.

"We were so worried about you!" Kairi squealed.

"You've been asleep for ages!" added Fire.

Above all the girls' voices he heard a mocking voice say, "Give him some air, would you?"

One by one, the girls released their hold on the young teen and Sora sat up, rubbing his side gingerly as he looked into the aqua green eyes of Riku.

"So, sleeping beauty is finally awake?" another voice said from the doorway. The voice belonged to Aerith, and standing around her were Cloud, Leon, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

"Sora!" Goofy cried. "How ya' feeling?''

"I've been worse," Sora admitted. His eyes darted around the room before asking the question you all knew was coming; "What happened?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Despite the fact that that question is extremely cliché," Sora stuck his tongue out at him, "I guess it's our job to tell you..." Riku smirked again, "... your majesty."

"That's it," Sora growled, standing up. "If one more person calls me that I'm blasting their fucking head off." He twirled his Keyblade around in his fingers to finalize the statement.

"Touchy, touchy," Riku said, leaning back on the couch Sora had abandoned.

"Don't you remember anything?" Kairi asked, ignoring the fact that Riku and Sora were currently having a staring contest.

Sora blinked in confusion ("HA! I win!" Riku shouted). "The last thing I remember was when Malificent and them were trapped and a few of you were out. Then.... I had this weird feeling, like I felt it before. Then I blacked out. I think I remember waking up from something at one time, but that was it."

"It's the same thing you saw during the Test of Strength," Crystal told him. "You know, the King thing."

"Hey, that rhymed!" Fire shouted gleefully. Everybody turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. It was a few moments before she realized her randomness and closed her mouth, blushing.

"Ookkaayyy..." Yuffie said.

"Anyway..." King Mickey continued. "You used the same attack again, in the same mode."

"But what happened to Malificent? And Ursula.... and Jafar..."

"They're all destroyed," Donald told him.

"How?" the poor, confused Sora asked.

"You!" Kairi exclaimed. "You went all glowy and killed them all. You barely had to lift a finger." ( Digitaldreamer: SUPER KINGY GLOWY ATTACK OF DOOM! )

"Wow..." Sora whispered in awe.

"Wow is right," King Mickey agreed. "I've never seen such power. There's no doubt that you're the King now."

Sora sighed heavily. His mind had been buzzing with so much confusion and questions that the King predicament had completely slipped his mind. A voice rang out in his head;_ "I've accepted my fate...." _With a pang, Sora realized that that was his voice. He wasn't sure how, but he knew it was. _They're right.... I'm right.... It's my fate, it's time I accept it. Might as well get it over with.  
_  
He plopped down on a chair by the couch and looked into the eyes of King Mickey. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to make up your mind," King Mickey said gently. "You can refuse the throne, you know what happens then, or you can...."

"...take the throne, I know," Sora groaned, rolling his eyes.

There was a moment's pause until Donald said, "Well?"

"Don't have that much of a choice, do I?" Sora asked with a bitter smile. "As long as I'm allowed out of the cursed castle every now and then, I guess I'll stay."

King Mickey grinned while Goofy and Donald jumped up and down; glad to have Sora staying with them. He began talking to Sora, but he wasn't really listening.

And neither was Riku or Kairi. Both were frowning slightly, Kairi holding more to a sadder expression. Neither wanted to lose their friend.

_Later in Some Random Hallway_

Sora was walking down the hallway, thinking over the conversation he had barely listened to.

_"You're gonna have to stay here for lessons,"_

"In a few years, around four or five, you'll take over,"

"I'm not sure when you can go back to visit your island, only time can tell..."

"Time," Sora snorted. "What a bunch of bullshit."

"Sora!" two voices cried from behind him. The future King turned around to see Kairi and Riku running towards him.

"Hey'', Sora said dully as they stopped in front of him, panting.

"We just wanted to tell you something," Kairi said, straightening up as Riku did the same.

Sora blinked. "Is it more bad news?"

Riku shook his head. "No, I think this might be good news for once.''

"Really, what?" Sora asked, some of his old spark coming back to him now that he was about to hear something that could possibly brighten his situation.

"We can stay here with you!" Kairi exclaimed happily.

"Huh?" Sora asked, confused once again.

"Yeah, we were thinking that if you had to stay here and learn the entire King crap, we might as well be here with you," Riku pointed out.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure that King Mickey would let us stay.

Sora stood there, dumbstruck. "You guys would really do that for me?"

They both nodded. "We could stay here with you, no sweat."

Sora just sighed and shook his head, a small, sad smile on his lips. "I couldn't do that to you guys."

"Why?" Kairi asked. "It's no problem, really we could..."

But she was silenced as Sora put his hand up. "We all know that you'd be miserable stuck here at the castle. We've worked so hard to get back home to Destiny Islands, you need to go back."

"But what about you?" Kairi asked, eyes shining from unshed tears. "We can't leave you all alone!"

"I won't be alone," he assured her, trying to cheer the girl up. "Goofy and Donald are here. They're not you guys, but..." he stopped, imagining life without Kairi and Riku. He never knew of a time they had been separated except when he was traveling from world to world, looking for them.

"We can stay!" Riku insisted. "You don't have to do this alone. We can be there for you."

Sora chuckled. "You're always going to be there," he told his best friend. "Nothing is gonna change. Besides, somebody has to go back and explain to everybody what happened. And to tell my mom that no, Leon and Yuffie did NOT kidnap me..."

He stepped forward and rested a hand on each of their shoulders. "I'll come back to you.... I promise."

_Night Time on a Balcony_

Kairi stood alone on the balcony, looking up at the stars that winked lazily at her from the dark skies. She and the rest were given rooms to sleep in for the night. King Mickey had arranged for a gummi ship to take them all back home the next day before the walls dividing the worlds closed up again and they wouldn't be able to go back. Cloud was going to Traverse Town with Aerith. Yuffie, Leon, Kairi and Riku were heading towards Destiny Islands. Sora, of course, was staying.

"Sora..." Kairi whispered, a tear running slowly down her cheek.

"Somebody say my name?" a cheery voice above her asked.

Kairi started, her eyes darting up. She watched as Sora plopped down onto the floor, folding back his wings.

"Don't scare me like that!" she said, trying to look serious but failing as she grinned at the bouncy teenager standing before her.

But his smile vanished as light reflected the tear drop on her cheek. He raised a hand and brushed it away softly, his hand lingering there. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

Kairi raised her hand and closed it around Sora's, which was on her cheek. "I.... I don't want you to go..." She choked back a sob.

"Hey, don't cry," Sora coaxed, wandering how he could comfort her; he wasn't good at this kind of thing. "Everything'll be fine, you'll see..."

"How?" she asked. "We leave tomorrow and we don't know when we can see each other again..."

Sora thought for a moment, and then grinned broadly. "Then we need to make it a night neither of us forgets."

_(Me: No, you dirty birdies; they're not going to have sex.)  
_  
"Huh?" Kairi asked, puzzled.

"Take my hand," he said softly. She did so and Sora pulled her into his arms, her back pressed against his chest. "You ready?"

Kairi nodded, curious as to what he was going to do. But then she wondered no more as Sora spread out his wings and flapped down hard, sending them both into the air.

"Whoa!" Kairi exclaimed as she felt the rushing in her stomach. Her hands locked on Sora's arms which were locked securely on her waist. (_Me: Okay, people, now is the time to whip out the song "A Whole New World and play it. PLAY IT! Don't act as if you didn't see this song coming.)  
_  
Sora and Kairi soared over the castle, the light shining up on them. They could see everything from up there. "Wow..." Kairi whispered.

Cool night air rushed into their faces, the only sound being the beating of Sora's two wings. But, surprisingly, he didn't have to flap that hard. He titled his wings in a downwards angle, sending them into a dive.

Kairi gasped as she saw the oncoming water of the huge lake. But Sora pulled out of the dive just in time, water splashing from the sides. He glided over the water, not needing to beat his wings at all.

Giggling, Kairi slowly let her right hand let go of Sora's arm and let her fingers skim along the water. A jet of water flew up behind.

Sora grinned; she was having a good time. He brought his wings up higher and a gust sent them upwards, rocketing them to the stars.

He flew straight and soon the village came into view. Sora let their altitude drop a bit so they could get a better view of the town. Only but a few people were still walking around and they pointed up to them as they flew by.

Sora's eyes spied a flower stand ahead. He dropped lower and snatched a bright purple flower with one hand as the other kept a firm grasp on Kairi. She giggled as he handed it to her. She examined the beautiful flower before tucking it behind her ear.

Sora's grin grew wider and he flew upwards once more; this world was larger then it looked. He flew above the many houses and stores as Kairi looked around happily; she had never had so much fun before.

"You like the view?" Sora asked as they flew upwards again.

"I love it," she said happily, turning her head slightly to smile at Sora.

Sora blushed slightly as they rose to the gentle blanket of clouds that lay above. Sora flew through one of them and both laughed at the ticklish sensation it gave them, the white mist rushing around. Sora banked to the right and they went down in a spiraling fashion. He pulled up before they hit the ground and flew straight up, making a graceful loop like in a roller coaster. He flew up a few feet, then down, and up, and then down again until he steadied his pace so they could see the entire landscape.

"It's so beautiful," Kairi whispered in awe.

"Not as beautiful as you," Sora whispered into her ear.

Now it was Kairi's turn to blush as he flew back to the castle. Flying was wonderful, and to him it seemed easier then walking. But it was tiring, especially when you were carrying another person.

He halted by her balcony and lifted her over the railing. Her bare feet hit the stone and it felt a bit weird to be on solid ground. She turned around to see Sora hovering there, flapping his wings slightly to keep aloft and rising and falling a few inches with every wing beat.

"Thanks," she said softly.

"No problem," he said with his trademark grin.

He's grown up so much, Kairi thought idly as she drew something out of her pocket. "I want you to have this."

Sora held out his hand and in it Kairi dropped her oathkeeper that now had a chain hanging around it.

"You're oathkeeper..." he whispered, holding it up.

Kairi giggled a bit. "Yep. Now when you get lonely, just look at the oathkeeper. It will help you keep your oath to come back to me. Remember... you promised."

Sora smiled. He pulled off his crown necklace and held it out to her. "This will remind you that I always keep my promises. And I will come back to you.... no matter what."

Kairi slipped the necklace on and felt a surge of warmth flow through her body, just as Sora felt as he slipped on the oathkeeper.

"And it will keep all the boys away," Sora added. Kairi looked up at him.

He leaned in slowly and kissed her. Cue the fireworks. That sure as hell would sum up what Kairi felt right now. _(Me: Alright, alright, I admit it. I'm watching Aladdin right now. ((Digitaldreamer gives her a "stop stealing scenes from copyrighted movies" look)))_ Sora pulled away and whispered, "I love you, Kairi."

And with that, his wings shot up and he rocketed off, leaving Kairi standing there to stare after him. "I love you, Sora."

_Departure Time_

They were all gathered at the launch pad. Ozen had finally come to fetch Fire and Crystal who had jobs to get back to.

"We'll come and visit you, we promise!" Crystal exclaimed.

"Yeah, and good luck Sora!" Fire added.

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it," he said solemnly.

"Bye guys!" Crystal said, stepping back.

Ozen was waiting for them. "C'mon, we gotta get back. I have a lot of work to do."

"What work?" Goofy asked.

"Well, since Maleficent and the heartless were back, they destroyed the borders between the worlds," he said sadly. I have to get things in order to rebuild it. But I made sure there was enough time to get everybody back home."

Cloud stared blankly for a moment as Crystal turned to him. She grinned cheekily. "…You know Cloud, you're a bit tall, maybe you could bend down a bit so I can kiss you?

Cloud gave her a glare.

"Oh fine, you're no fun. But ah, I do have this request from your fan club up above…" She whipped out a piece of paper. "Would you mind donning some extremely sexy and revealing gothic clothing? Maybe go smooch with Sephiroth? It's for the yaoi fans."

The blond warrior stared at her wide-eyed for a moment. "Hell no!" He cried. "You're fucking insane!"

Crystal stared at him for a moment. Then she grinned and turned away,  
random hearts popping around her. "Squeeee! Cloud-kun complimented me! He called me insane! OhmyGOD the girls are gonna be so jealous!!"

Cloud groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Crazy fangirls…"

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing you guys soon," Fire said hopefully. Ozen was already shimmering back but not before Fire and Crystal (Firebolt, you're wish is granted) kissed Sora on the cheek.

Kairi twitched in annoyance but let it slide. But when Riku watched Fire kiss Sora, he felt a rush of jealousy. _Why is she kissing his.... wait.... why do I care?!  
_  
Fire and Crystal shimmered back up while Sora stared wide-eyed where they were just standing; of all the things he had expected that was definitely not one of them.

"Now that we have that taken care of..." Yuffie said nervously.

"I guess we have to go as well," Aerith said sadly.

"Thanks for all of your help," King Mickey said.

"No prob," Yuffie said carelessly. "Just call when you need me to save the worlds again."

Everybody rolled their eyes at the slightly self-centered Yuffie.

"Good luck kid," Leon said, ruffling the boys hair in a brotherish way.

"Yeah don't work too hard," Cloud murmured audibly in a sarcastic voice; everybody knew that Riku was more likely to take tap dancing lessons then Sora working hard.

"Yeah, I'll work hard alright," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "Then Riku and Fire will start going out with each other." Everybody was too bust laughing to see Riku blush.

_(Me: Okay, I have one final wish for all of you. I want you to play 'Simple and Clean' slow version. It makes the ending much more emotional)  
_  
"I hope we meet again, Sora," Aerith said to the Keyblade master.

"Me too," Sora said with a trademark grin.

As Yuffie, Leon, Aerith and Cloud boarded the ship being driven by a dog-like creature thing from the castle, Riku and Kairi hung back to have a last minute goodbye with Sora who was standing with King Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

"I guess this is good bye," Kairi said sadly.

"Take care," Riku said, seizing Sora in a quick one armed hug.

"Maybe I can get Fire or Crystal to carry messages to you guys or something," Sora told him hopefully.

Riku just nodded and Kairi stepped forward. "I'm going to miss you," she said quietly so that only Sora could hear. "Come back to me soon." She threw her arms around his neck and buried her head against his chest.

"I'll come back to you, I promise," Sora whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"I know you will," she whispered back. She stepped back and they looked into each others eyes... one last time.

"Come on," Riku whispered. He led Kairi up the ramp onto the ship and they both looked back just one more time.

With a hissing noise, the ramp slid shut and Kairi and Riku rushed to the windows to look out at their friend. Sora smiled sadly, waving at them. A small tear could be seen at the corner of his eye no matter how much he tried to look brave. Kairi began to sob and smile as she tried to wave back, and Riku just stared sadly out the window, a single pearly tear running down his cheek.

Soras continued to wave as he watched the gummi ship rise into the air and slowly speed off, picking up speed. He kept on staring until he could no longer see his friends' faces in the windows, until the ship was no more then a black spec. And with a flash, it was gone.

Sora's hand fell to the ground.

"Don't worry, Sora, you'll see 'em again," Goofy said, trying his best to cheer his friend up."

"Yeah, I guess so," Sora said sadly, eyes not moving from the sky.

"C'mon, let's get inside," King Mickey encouraged. He, Goofy, and Donald headed in but Sora lingered for a moment, still staring.

_When you walk away,  
You don't hear me say,  
Please, oh baby  
Don't go._

"I'll come back, I promise," Sora whispered.

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight.  
It's hard to let it go.  
_  
He turned slowly on his heel and towards Disney Castle. He had no idea what was going to happen...

... but he was facing it when it came.

_END_

Me: The end.

Digitaldreamer: Damnit, that almost made me cry! Wish, you ass! How am I supposed to type things if I short-circuit the keyboard!?

All: WHAT?!

Me: (falls over) What what?

Kairi: You mean the story is over?

Me: Yep.

Riku: No more torture?

Me: Nope.

Sora: No more restless nights bending over the keyboard?

Me: Nope.

All: ...

Me: Soo...

KH Cast: Sooo....

Kairi: What now?

Me: OH! I know! An epilogue!

All: YAAAYY!

Me: Okay people, in your review tell me whether or not I should have an epilogue. In it I would also have a summary of the three upcoming stories.

Kairi: Everybody say 'ooohhh'.

Everybody: Ooohhh.

Digitaldreamer: …boo.

Kairi: Everybody say 'aaahhh'.

Everybody: Aaahhh.

Digitaldreamer: No.

Me: (rolls eyes) I will also have those credit thingys and thank you's to everybody who reviewed the story.

All: WOOP!

Digitaldreamer: Oh crap, that'll make the chapter twice as long as usual!

Me: Well, this is it. Farewell my faithful readers! (Bows and the curtains close)

Digitaldreamer: AH! I can't see! (runs around behind curtain, trips and falls, lands on face) I meant to do that.

(Head peeps out of curtain) Oh yeah, and lots and lots of thank you's to my Beta Reader, Digitaldreamer. Without her the story would be a pile of shit. So if you want to thank anybody, thank her. Thank you and GOOD NIGHT! (head disappears)


	18. Epilogue and Ending Author Notes

Me: Okay guys, this is it.

Sora: The one you've all been waiting for.

Kairi: The finale....

Riku: The end....

All: OF REVENGE OF THE DARKNESS! (Balloons and confetti fall from the sky and music starts playing)

Digitaldreamer: AHEM!

Me: WAIT!

All: (freezes)

Me: I still have this epilogue thingy.

Riku: Why?

Me: Errrr.... I BLAME DIGITAL!

All: (Looks at Digital and stalks towards her)

Digitaldreamer: Errrrr…(backs away)

Me: Digital's in trouble. (gets out camera)

All: (shakes Digital's hand) Thank you!

Me: (spits out Dr. Pepper she was drinking) Wha?!

Digitaldreamer: Whew!

Riku: Gives you more work to do, doesn't it?

Me: (glares at cast)

Sora: Get to work! (chains Wish to a chair in front of computer)

Me: Alright, alright! I'm going....

_Disney Castle_

Sora's feet darted in and out of view as he charged down the vast, checkered floor of the hallway. Behind him ran an old duck with tuffs of gray hair sticking out from just above where his ears would be and wearing glasses.

"Come back here, you!" the figure yelled as he charged after the brunette. But his case wasn't helped any as his student spread his wings and flew down the hallway, leaving the old duck gasping for breath after him as he began to realize his attempts were useless; nobody could catch Sora, especially when he didn't want to be caught.

Sora whipped around the corner and came to a halt right outside the door of a broom closet. The piece of paper still clutched tightly in his hand, he tugged the door open and threw himself inside, closing the wooden panel behind him. He crouched down by the door and listened as he heard slowing footsteps round the bend and another set walking towards him from the other direction.

"Professor Stewlart!" a high pitched voice said from the right. "Where are ya' off to in such a big rush?"

"It's that cursed boy again, sire!" the old duck named Stewlart answered. "He's run off again!"

Sora heard the mouse sigh, and he could almost hear him rubbing his head in exhaustion. "What happened this time?"

"Well, I was teaching him the main rules of this world!" Stewlart replied angrily. "Then this brown-haired girl with red wings appeared."

"Fire," King Mickey said, nodding his head.

Stewlart hid his confusion as he went on. "Anyway, she tried to kiss him on the cheek or something and he pushed her away. Then she got all pouty, handed him an envelope and disappeared. He took one glance at the letter and bolted out of the room like a bat out of hell!"

King Mickey chuckled slightly; he had a very strong suspicion as to what the envelope contained. "Well, Stewlart, there's no use in tryin' to find Sora now. When you loose sight of him, ya can't find him. There's no other choice then to wait for him to turn up again, Sora has a gift of hiding until he wants to be found.''

Stewlart threw his hands in the air and gave a cry of frustration. "He's been here for only two weeks and he's skiving off of lessons! How am I supposed to teach him? I'm telling you, if we just chain him to a chair we could get things done a lot faster!"

Sora winced.

"We can't do that!" King Mickey exclaimed. "Just give Sora some time to adjust to things here; I'm sure he'll cooperate eventually. In the mean time, we just hafta get him used to life in the Castle."

Sora listened with rising resentment. _They're talking about me like I'm just some dog to be housebroken, _Sora thought angrily._ I can act the way I want to, they can't control me! _They continued talking.

"Whatever," Stewlart muttered. "I'm going to get a strong cup of tea." Sora heard padded footsteps as Stewlart trudged off to the kitchens; a moment later, King Mickey followed. Sora could have sworn he saw the King glance quickly at the closet door and gavea wink before he left.

Sora felt his heart soften a bit. _Well, King Mickey isn't so bad_, Sora admitted to himself. _He's being patient and all_. When he shifted in his seat he heard the rustle of paper and he looked down and saw the thick envelope still clutched in his hand.

He gave a small gasp of surprise; he had almost forgotten about them while he was eavesdropping. With slightly trembling fingers, he ripped open the letter and saw two sheets of paper.

Withdrawing the first one, he unfolded it and saw Riku's slanted handwriting. Smiling to himself, he read:

**_Sora, _**

What's up, man? Hope King Mickey and them aren't working you too hard. If they are, I'll ask Fire or Crystal to zap them for you.

There was a huge uproar when Kairi and I got back. Everyone was happy to see us, but the moment they said hi they asked us where you were. It was pretty funny to leave them hanging for a bit, but Kairi broke down and ended up telling them; spoiled my fun she did. Well, they were damn shocked to hear what had happened to you. I never knew they could swear so much. They looked ready to kill. I took over the last part of the tale because Kairi began to cry. She couldn't take it further then when you died. You really piss me off, you know that? I almost cried too.

I just got up to the part where you woke up in the Castle when your mom came. She practically strangled me, demanding to know where you were. I had to tell the story... AGAIN. She was crying too. But I told everybody you were the new King and she got all happy and said something about always knowing you were destined for greatness or something. Selphie was jumping up and down like the lunatic she is, Tidus and Wakka were all disappointed they didn't get your autograph while they had the chance.

Then I told them you weren't coming back. The mood changed so fast it wasn't even funny. Your mom starting throwing stuff at me, telling me I should have brought you back in chains if I had to. She didn't pick on Kairi because... well, she's Kairi. Who was, by the way, laughing at the whole mess!! I finally shook her off and hid inside my house.

I think it's safe to say that everyone misses you. Honestly, it's not the same here without you. There's less laughter, you see smiles less often, and I don't have a decent fighting partner anymore. But besides that, I'm not sure if I could beat you anymore. You've really improved a lot, and I know you're getting better by the minute with the training you're doing over there. And despite the fact that they took my best bud away, and the fact that this may sound very corny which is not my style at all, I'm proud of you. I want you to do me a favor; I want you to train hard. After all, you're going to be the big ruler in a few years. I know you're still hurting from what happened back at Hollow Bastion, but you have to let it go. What's happened has happened and there's nothing you can do about it anymore. Just do your best so that when we see each other again, I can prove how much stronger I have gotten by beating Mr. King.

Your Best Friend,  
Riku

P.S.: If you don't write back I will strangle you within an inch of your life when we meet again.

Sora chuckled slightly at the last part, folding up the letter. _Do they really miss me that much?_ he thought as he tucked away the letter in a pocket on his vest. He reached into the envelope again and pulled out a second letter; the one from Kairi. His eyes slowly filled with tears as he read:

_Dear Sora, _

How are you? How's training going? I hope you're working hard. But then again, knowing you you've probably skived off a few classes. Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if you were hiding somewhere to read this.

Sora snorted in amusement; she knew him so well. He read on:

_I know that Riku is writing you a letter too, and he probably wrote about what happened when we got back. It was funny; Riku's taller then your mom, but he was cowering in fear when she yelled at him. I know she misses you very much. I've walked by your house and I saw her crying with your dad. They look so alone. For her sake, and for all of our sakes, please come back soon. We all miss you so much. I have heard everyone talking about how they could get up to the Castle and bring you back; but deep in their hearts they want you to succeed. I know that they all want you to do your best and show them all what an average island kid can do. _

However, nobody, not your parents or Riku or anybody else, misses you as much as I do. I can see you everywhere. When I look at the sun I can see your bright smile, when I look at the ocean I can see your eyes. When I look down into the sand I can see the creamy color of your skin. When I hear somebody laugh, I wonder if you're happy. Everything reminds me of you, I can't ever get you out of my head; but I don't want to. I miss you so much it's like having a constant ache in my heart. I want to see you again so badly. I want to see your real eyes, your real skin, see your real smile and hear that contagious laugh of yours. I visit the secret place everyday to see that picture of us feeding each other the paupau fruit. I'm thinking we should have shared the real thing before we left, before any of the bad things happened.

I want you to know that when I am reminded of those things, it makes me cry. I'm trying hard not to cry now. Sometimes they're sad tears, sometimes their happy when I think of you. I know you want me to be strong, like you're probably being, but I can't do it when you're gone. Sora, remember that night you took me flying? The night you gave me my first kiss? I relive that moment over and over inside my head, hoping that you'll appear in the sky to take me away. But when you left, you told me that you loved me. I know that you were already flying away, so you may not have heard what I said, so I'll repeat it. I love you too.

I've always have loved you and always will. You will always have a special place inside of my heart. There will never be anybody else to take that place. The oathkeeper around your neck symbolizes me. Whenever you feel lost or trapped, just hold the oathkeeper to your heart and remember that no matter how many physical miles separate us, I'm always with you. I keep your crown necklace with me all the time, I never let it out of my sight. I can almost feel your arms around me with it on, and maybe I can see the real thing soon. I love you Sora.... never forget that.

Love,  
Kairi

P.S.: I love you.

Sora finished the letter and realized that his cheeks were wet with tears. He rubbed them away quickly, and reread the letter to make sure it really said what he thought it said. _She loves me too_, Sora thought, head hanging. _And they all miss me. They want me to do my best... they want to see me again.  
_  
Soar stood up and looked around, vision blurred by new tears. "What am I doing in here?" Sora whispered, blinking to hold back the tears threatening to fall again. "They're all counting on me... I can't let them down."

He rubbed his eyes again and opened the door to breathe in air that was much fresher then that of the old, musty closet. As walked down the hallway, he folded up his letter and slipped it in with Riku's. He looked at the huge bell tower that was visible from any angle of the Castle; right now he looked at it through a large window that lined the entire left side of the hallway. It read 4:30.

"Wow," Sora murmured. "I've been hiding for nearly an hour. Oh well, at least lessons are over."

He continued his walk down the long hallway and took a right at the fork he met; he had memorized the main path between the room he was given lessons, the throne room, the sitting room, Sora's own room, which was awesome, and the kitchen. Donald and Goofy were still helping him find his way everywhere else. It may not look it, but as big as the Castle looked, it was at last twice as big on the inside.

Right now, Sora was on his way to the sitting room, the place he had woken up in two weeks ago when he first came to the Castle after defeating Malificent. Since that day, Sora awoke with nightmares every night; brain fogged with the terrible memories of his torture…things that had happened not so long ago.

_I can't think of that_, Sora scolded himself._ Riku and Kairi are right.... I need to move on. I need to do the best I can. Might as well face what's ahead of me rather then face it a coward. _

Sora finally reached the sitting room and heard voices through the door.

"I hope he's alright," a voice that sounded like King Mickey's, only feminine, said; Queen Minnie.

"I'm sure he's alright!" Goofy's voice said.

"What's taking him so long?" An impatient Donald exclaimed, annoyed.

Sora sighed. _Oh joy, _he thought sarcastically, _they're all here. Better brace myself for this one. _

Sora put on what he thought of as a normal expression, looking as casual as possible, and pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Everyone in the room (Queen Minnie, Daisy, Donald, King Mickey, Goofy and Stewlart) looked up to see the King-to-be standing there, grinning sheepishly.

"And just where have you been?" Daisy asked.

"Nowhere, Miss," Sora said politely. "Just around."

"Around where?!" Stewlart cried angrily.

"I was just reading something," Sora said easily with a wink at King Mickey.

Mickey sighed; another fight as to why Sora has been skipping his lessons again. But when Sora winked at him, he saw the teen point at his pocket that you could see the points of letters pointing out. King Mickey smiled, understanding it now. He just leaned back in his seat and watched the others bicker.

"You just can't go running off like that!"

Sora continued to take his King lessons, always keeping in mind of his friends.

"I can do whatever I want!''

Little did he know....

"You're going to be King, show some responsibility!"

... that danger was lurking just around the corner.

"That's exactly it! I want to spend my last moments of freedom they way I want to!"

Just waiting to find it's way to Sora. The boy's life would never be the same.

"Just for this, you're getting extra homework!"

As long as he wielded the Keyblade and his path to being the King still lay before him....

"Oh man!"

.... there would always be danger. But hey, as long as he still had his friends....

"Don't 'Oh man' me; it's your fault for running off in the first place!"

... Sora was pretty confident he could do pretty much anything.

"When I become King, I'm gonna fire you!"

Until then....

"I'd like to see you try!"

.... let the adventures begin.

"You just wait. I'll show you. I'll show everyone."

_The End_

Me: TA DA!!!!!

All: (claps)

Me: (bows) Well, that was the last chapter. I hope you all liked it. Well, of course, there will be a sequel. And I'm even throwing in something else...

Sora: What?

Me: A collection of one-shots about Sora's life while he's training to be King!

All: WOOP!

Me: Well, I'd just like to thank everyone who reviewed this story. I never thought my fic would be this good, and you have all given me the confidence I needed to go on. I have some special thank you's to make. I wanna thankElegantArrow for giving me all those great tips to make my writing better. Thanks M.D. Sora for being my inspiration, everytime I talked to you I got an idea for my fic. And a really big thank you to my beta reader, Digitaldreamer. She came up with a lot of ideas and she fixed my story, got rid of errors and helped me keep the characters canon. Thanks to all three of you! (blows nose)

Kairi: (pats)

Digitaldreamer: Stop thanking me! You're making me feel sappy! I don't do sappy!

Me: Well, thank you for reading this story. Please review this epilogue and give it a rating of 1 through 10. I know that there are some readers out there who read but don't review cause they can't find anything wrong with this fic. But please review this last chapter and rate it so I know of your opinion. I'm also thinking of a prequel, a short one, but I'm not sure yet. Give me your opinion in a review! Thank you! Good bye, my readers! Good bye!

Digitaldreamer: (waves goodbye while hiding knives behind back)

Me: DO YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF AN ADDICTION TO KNIVES? GIMME THOSE! (chases Digital and her knives of doom)

Sora: See ya!

Riku: Later.

Kairi: Bye bye!

Me: Enough with the good byes, I'm crying already. And seriously, I am crying bcause know the fic is over. Or is it? (Cast, Wish and Digital slowly disapear and end credits roll by with the song 'Whispers' by Evenescance playing)

Author: Britt, a.k.a. Wish.

Stars: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Fire, Crystal, King Mickey

Editor: DigitalDreamer

Special Thank You's: Fire, Digital, M.D. Sora

(then a long list of names that nobody reads anyway)

REVIEW!


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